Schlenker, P. 2004. "Sequence Phenomena and Double Access Readings Generalized" (not the final version; the final version appeared in The Syntax of Time, ed. Lecarme & Guéron, MIT Press)

 [Full paper in pdf]


Abstract:  We claim that two apparent idiosyncracies of tense  have a counterpart in other domains. (i) Sequence of Tense rules were originally posited to account for cases in which tense features appear to remain uninterpreted. We show that similar arguments suggest that Sequence of Person and Sequence of Mood rules are needed as well. (ii) Double Access Readings arise in certain environments in which a Sequence of Tense rule failed to be applied. We suggest that formally analogous readings exist with mood. We develop a fragment that includes a unified account of Sequence of Tense rules and Double Access Readings across domains (the theory is relatively close to the spirit -thought not to the letter- of Abusch 1997).