Under-specification and contextual variability of abstract prepositions
Alda Mari · 2002
In this paper we discuss some philosophical questions related to the treatment of abstract and underspecified prepositions. We consider three issues in particular: (i) the relation between sense and meanings, (ii) the privileged status of abstract meanings in the spectrum of contextual instantiations of basic senses, and finally (iii) the difference between prediction and inference. The discussion will be based on the study of avec (with) and the analysis of its abstract meaning of comitativity in particular. A model for avec semantic variability will also be suggested.