Property-type Objects and Modal Embedding

Abstract

Verbs in West Greenlandic require a special piece of morphology, the antipassive, in order to take narrow-scope indefinite objects. Opaque objects of intensional verbs require the same treatment. This paper develops a semantics for the antipassive morpheme in West Greenlandic that shifts the verb’s object position to a propertytype, providing for the object’s narrow scope, while introducing modal embedding. The modal embedding provides for the interpretation of opaque objects of intensional verbs, in a way syntactically constructing the intensional construction. The modal embedding of property-type object constructions is visible not just in West Greenlandic antipassives but also in Hindi-Urdu and even English, suggesting a generalized modalization in the combination of verb with property-type object.