Modularity and compositionality: The case of temporal modifiers

Abstract

This paper concerns the possibility of building Montague grammars in a modular and incremental way. As an illustration, we investigate the following question. Given an atemporal Montague grammar, on the one hand, and a temporal ontology, on the other hand, is it possible to combine them into a new grammar such that it would: (i) conservatively extend the original grammar, and (ii) allow temporal modifiers to be accommodated.