BLC Talk by Assoc. Prof. Sam Alxatib (Cuny) on September 25

BLC Talk by Assoc. Prof. Sam Alxatib (Cuny)

Title: On Until and Its Uses

Abstract: 

The points that I want to make in this talk are primarily about the English temporal modifier until. At first glance untilappears to have two uses, a polarity-sensitive punctual use (1) and a polarity-insensitive durative use (2), and there has been interest in unifying the two since at least the 1960s.

 (1) a. *Kim woke up until 6
      b. Kim didn't wake up until 6.

(2) a. Kim was asleep until 6.
     b. Kim was not asleep until 6.

In recent work Iatridou and Zeijlstra’s (2021) proposed an account that uses Iatridou et al.’s (2001) notion of time spans. My goal is to look in detail at the implications of Iatridou and Zeijlstra’s account — hereafter I&Z — and to modify it in ways that (I will argue) are necessary. Eventually I will agree with I&Z on some aspects of their proposal and disagree on others. Specifically, I will agree that there can indeed be an account on which one lexical entry of until makes it seem polarity-sensitive in the company of punctual VPs, and polarity-insensitive with durative VPs. But I will argue that the details point to an exceptive-like semantics rather than the semantics that I&Z have in mind. As I make the case for this revision, I will also argue that the full set of facts remain out of reach unless one posits another entry for until that is purely durative.

When: September 25, 2025 at 4:00PM

Where: JF321 (Seminar Room)