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12 juin 2017
- handle: 10670/1.wb9q5w
- hal: hal-01545360
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Fabio Del Prete et al., « Now there will be trouble. Two puzzles of tense-modal forcing », HAL-SHS : linguistique, ID : 10670/1.wb9q5w
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Résumé
We consider some examples in which “now” occurs in sentence-initial position.By means of semantic tests, we show that the meaning conveyed by such examples isdifferent from the meaning of the corresponding sentences in which “now” has been dis-placed to sentence-final position. More specifically, we argue that the sentence-initialoccurrence of “now” in the original examples triggers a modal reading for the con-taining sentence. We propose a general notion of modal forcing to provide a uniformaccount of this modal reading. Armed with this account, we offer a solution to twotense-modal puzzles, which have to do with fatalism and the possibility of a changingpast.