A compositional account of the eventive/stative ambiguity of German causal von-modifiers

Abstract

The paper develops a compositional semantics of German causal von-modifiers that derives eventive and stative readings of causal von from a single lexical entry and allows for coercive adaptions to account for the observed range of interpretive adjustments. Characteristic features of the interpretation such as the inferential behavior of causal von-modifiers and the holistic effect of the stative reading are explained as following from independently motivated con­ceptual assumptions concerning the spatiotemporal grounding of causation.