The Semantics of Temporal Prepositions and Related Adverbials in English

In this paper, we present an account of the semantics of the English temporal prepositions and some related temporal adverbials. This account aims to describe how these expressions function in English sentences, and in particular how they contribute to the truth-conditions of the sentences in which they occur. Our account will be couched at a su ciently formal level to enable us to de ne a procedure for assessing the validity of a range of arguments couched in everyday temporal English. We develop a temporal representation language, TL, into which English sentences involving temporal prepositions can be naturally translated. Our goal is to tailor the representation language so as to t as closely as possible the expressive resources provided by temporal constructions in English. In particular, we show how many restrictions on use of multiple preposition phrases are explained naturally by the semantics we give for these phrases, and the structure of the formal language we translate them into. This close match, we claim, justi es a program of work in which TL will be extended so as to permit a more re ned and comprehensive account of the semantics of English temporal expressions than has been undertaken so far.