Topic-Comment Structure and the Contrast Between Stage Level and Individual Level Predicates

TLDR

Topic‑comment structure complicates the simple stage‑level versus individual‑level distinction in grammar. The study re‑examines Carlson’s stage‑level/individual‑level distinction across grammatical modules, focusing on weak‑subject distribution and the underlying stative‑versus‑eventive contrast. A dynamic semantics of topicality is proposed, formalizing how the stative‑eventive contrast generates the observed effects. The authors argue that multiple independent contrasts, rather than a single uniform distinction, are required, and that a unified explanation of all sensitive phenomena is neither possible nor desirable.

Abstract

The paper re‐examines the relevance of Carlson's (1977) distinction between stage level predicates and individual level predicates for several modules of grammar. In the first part of the paper, it is argued that rather than assume a uniform stage level vs. individual level distinction, we have to distinguish several similar but independent contrasts. Thus it is demonstrated that a unified explanation of all linguistic phenomena that are considered to be sensitive for this distinction is not possible or desirable. The second part of the paper focuses on one group of apparent contrasts between stage level and individual level predicates: the distribution of weak subjects. We will argue that it is the well‐established contrast between stative and eventive predicates that lies at the bottom of these effects. This simple picture is blurred by interaction with topic‐comment structure. We will propose a dynamic semantics of topicality that enables us to derive the observed effects formally.