Revisiting stativity in pictorial narratives

Abstract

This paper revisits the issue of stativity in pictorial narratives, specifically those found in comics and manga. The standard model holds that the contents of a picture, as defined by geometric projection, are semantically stative and integrated via a Dowty-style narrative interpretation. Here, I propose an alternative interpretation of pictorial narratives. Under this account, most pictorial narrative cases remain stative, as is posited in Abusch. When pictorial narratives include movement lines, however, additional supplemental content generates an eventive interpretation of pictorial representations. This is not pragmatically enriched content. The content contributed by movement lines is treated as semantic because movement lines are non-veridical in the way projection-style pictorial interpretations must be. Ultimately I argue for a dynamic, non-stative interpretation of pictorial narratives that include movement lines.