ter meulen review ter meulen alice g b 1997 representing time natural language dynamic interpretation tense aspect mit press cambridge mass 160 pages isbn 0262 70066 2 12 50 paperback reviewed anne reboul loriacnrs france anne reboul loria fr 0 introduction ter meulen book good introduction work past years representation eventualities temporal reasoning book combines approach desire lose information previously given discourse semantic principles squarely based situation semantics allows introduce dynamic aspect trees dats loosely described temporal inference pumps ter meulen points though common sense reasoning plays important role temporal reasoning aim deal finally present paperback edition book incorporates appendix giving exercises dat construction short account resemblance difference drt dats 1 0 book summary preface ter meulen aims account linguistic informational balance static dynamic information proposing abstract semantic principles relative tense aspect using tools derived situation semantics 1 introduction language describes world composed two main types temporal objects events introduce changes states linguistic capacity accompanied inferential ability interpretation case ter meulen deals simple past perfect progressive uses present tenses indicate order events occur weak constraints temporal relations events difference simple past perfect aspectual obvious examined light difference events states simple past describes events contextdependent way perfect gives stative information aspect seen imposing control flow information ter meulen introduces three main universal aspectual classes holes filters plugs closely related respectively vendler classical ontological classes activities john ran half hour accomplishments john built house achievements john race ter meulen introduces notion situated reasoning time according temporal vantage point text reasoning text proceed first descriptive factor second aspectual factor source information third factor perspective information new temporal information processed context given incorporates least lexicon syntax language situated logical inference rules semantic constraints presuppositions available information elements situation use 2 aspectual verbs aspectual verbs describe internal structure events english start begin commence initiate resume event beginnings continue keep event middles end finish terminate halt cease complete event endings aspectual verbs describing middle end event carry anaphoric presupposition assumptions previous existence event event aspectual verbs describing onset event semantically indefinite existential character verbs describing middle event quantificational verbs holes verbs describing ending events may filters plugs depending whether finished plugs ended holes pairs aspectual verbs linked semantic contrary relation start finish stop resume resume finish keep end continue end dat events complex objects constituted individuals relations positive negative polarity events classified similarity classes types based parts type consists relation objects positive negative polarity indicating whether relation holds hold objects types also include parameters indeterminate objects used constituent apart polarities given situation supports type matches constituents types including parameters parametric types support depends existence situation objects corresponding parameter satisfying relation polarity aspectual verbs also described terms monotonicity inferences given aspectual verbs valid smaller parts larger parts verb monotone increasing inferences valid larger parts smaller parts verbs monotone decreasing ter meulen proposes aspectual cube cube allowing representation relations aspectual verbs well monotonicity properties vortex cube two vertical arrows first represents dynamic plugs upward arrow static holes downward arrow second represents increasing upward arrow decreasing downward arrow monotonicity cube visualizes dynamic transitions beginning start stopping end finish bottom corresponds stative holes top corresponds dynamic plugs allowing four combinations arrows english dynamic plugs increasing monotonicity dynamic plugs decreasing monotonicity stative holes increasing monotonicity stative holes descreasing monotonicity external negation flips left arrow changing dynamicity internal negation flips right arrow finally arrow kinematics whereby combinations arrow given gives dynamic stative aspect always determined right arrow e value combination always value right arrow upward plug downward hole 3 dynamic aspect trees dats dats way graphically representing information events directed graphs nodes labeled descriptive information either holes plugs dat unique source node plug rightmost terminal node corresponding utterance event determining perspective information past tense preceded source represented nodes branch left present information include source thus leftto right order represents flow time downward arrows represent temporal inclusion dats used temporal reasoning past though allow modalities counterfactuals also dat single root node dominating nodes including source representing entire episode described also current node last constructed one opened hole closed plug property determining next information processed current node plug new information represented new node descending one current node parent nodes usually lowest compatible parent node simple past tense clauses introduce new nodes states quantificational relations perfect clauses progressive clauses introduced stickers current node plug next node hole stickers portable transmitted new nodes dat grows introducing new node independent current one indicates change perspective path connecting set labeled nodes root chronoscope current chronoscope one containing current node compatibility relations symmetric reflexive transitive determined lexically entailment relations types chronoscope notion chronoscope one main device temporal reasoning dats allowing persistence e preservation information however temporal reasoning depends current node search conclusion starting current node dats structured semantic objects rather linguistic expressions follow semantic rules interpreted event structures embedded allow temporal reasoning obey semantic constraints interpretability text depends possibility constructing dat embedded event structure obeying constraints embedded dat describes episode event structure embedded provides values text true episode described dat part world 4 states generic information constraints stative information always represented stickers nodes dats states permanent others difference represented portability conditions perspective shifts thus rules downward portability conditions stickers portability conditions accommodation portability conditions differ perfect states progressive states generic stative information also represented stickers imported upward depending whether property predicated default members given category whether predicated category rather members whether appears conditionals temporal quantification 5 perspectives dat gives certain perspective episode describes episode may described different dats giving different perspective means dats episode lead different conclusions changes perspective depend rule used updating hole sticker rules change perspective plug filler rules words changes chronoscope correspond changes perspective depend status current node however perspective creating new chronoscope updating dat possibility goes perspective refinement perspective refinement corresponds unplugging plug turns hole allowing addition new information notion perspective strongly dependent compatibility information generally coherence one merits dat allow precise content rather slippery notion coherence relying rules dat construction notion chronoscope perspective refinements usually correspond flashbacks consist three operations unplugging nodes old chronoscopes resetting current node old one making existing nodes new nodes added independent though dominated ancestor ter meulen proposes tentative definition flashback process notes perspective allows perspective binding np anaphora proposes perspective constraint deal finally ter meulen outlines possibility threedimensional dats third dimension allowing representation independent structures nodes though communality root preserved three dimensional dats would called scenarios though part dats unique source would still describe episode parts scenarios incorporates different simultaneous episodes scenes 6 fragment english chapter ter meulen gives syntactic semantic account fragment english laboratory environment theory interpretation 93 well recapitulation rules dat construction updating 7 epilogue dats allow simultaneous encoding three types information aspectual control information open closed property nodes temporal part whole relations events descriptive information types labeling nodes dats compatible aristotelian realism defined barwise perry view structure information depends natural world distinction made according ter meulen interpreting utterance extract information contains evaluating truthvalue information appendix appendix added paperback edition ter meulen provided exercises dat construction well comparison drt dats comment second part appendix ter meulen notes dats stems partly drt nevertheless though dat logic developed enough allow complete comparison quite differences dats account inference simple past past perfect progressive portability conditions stative information chronoscopes aspectual verbs drt drt accounts temporal adverbials temporal interpretation subordinate clauses dats dats substitute notion current chronoscope notion temporal reference point used drt finally dats characterize valid logic inference depending crucially current node drt characterizes valid logic inference classically logical consequence 1 1 critical evaluation ter meulen book highly stimulating original interesting must read anyone interested time tense aspect criticisms leveled come one reason fact book much short means though clear enough rather difficult read also quite frustrating instance though ter meulen explain construct dats chapter 3 gives detailed rules enough step step examples dats book example kamp reyle 1993 much way one would liked much detailed comparison alternative accounts drt parsonian account events generally aktionsart appendix added paperback edition 1997 exist first hardback edition 1995 really enough satisfy complaints ter meulen book hints relation reference objects reference time indefiniteness argument nps given verb may influence interpretation clause notably aspect hints interesting longer book might given author scope develop intuitions thus one hope interesting book followed bigger one dat logic could developed fully contrasted alternative approaches ter meulen could describe precisely suggestions regarding perspective interaction semantic aspect dats commonsense reasoning whose necessity acknowledges deal book finally ter meulen book published time pustejovsky work lexicon thus nt make use pustejovsky system would nice know intersection approaches made references kamp h reyle u 1993 discourse logic dordrecht kluwer parsons 1990 events semantics english study subatomic semantics cambridge mass mit press pustejovsky j 1995 generative lexicon cambridge mass mit press reviewer anne reboul research fellow cnrs national center scientific research france phd linguistics phd philosophy currently working center computer research nancy team dedicated manmachine dialogue written quite papers french english coauthor dictionnaire encyclopedique de pragmatique paris le seuil english translation preparation basil blackwell oxford 1997 bronze medalist linguistics cnrs anne reboul loriacnrs bp 239 54506 vandoeuvre les nancy france anne reboul loria fr