Telling apart temporal locating adverbials
and time-denoting expressions
Telmo Móia
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa
Alameda da Universidade
P-1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal
tmoia@mail.telepac.pt
Abstract
This paper is concerned with the
identification of two semantically close
categories – temporal locating
adverbials and time-denoting
expressions. The dividing line between
these categories is difficult to draw,
inasmuch as there are several phrases
that occur with the same surface form
in the typical contexts of both of them
(e.g. in adverbial position and as the
complement of verbs like to date from).
These ambivalent phrases include
relatively simple expressions like
yesterday or last week, but also – a fact
that has gone practically unnoticed in
the literature – structurally complex
ones, like those headed by before, after,
when or ago. In this paper, a uniform
semantic categorisation of these
phrases as mere time-denoting
expressions is advocated and some of
its consequences for the grammatical
system are assessed. The analysis
postulates a null locating preposition
(with a value close to that of in) in the
contexts where the ambivalent forms
occur adverbially. A corollary is the
partition of the set of particles
traditionally classified as temporal
locating into two sets: the truly locating
ones – like in, during, since or until –
and those that are mere heads of
(structurally complex) time-denoting
expressions – like before, after,
between, when, ago, or from.
1 Introduction
In this paper, Portuguese and English – chosen
as examples of the Romance and Germanic
families – will be the object languages in an
attempt to draw a dividing line between two
semantically close subcategories of temporal
phrases – time-denoting expressions and
temporal locating adverbials (henceforth TDEs
and TLAs, respectively). Nevertheless, the
advocated hypotheses are expected to apply to
comparable expressions in other languages as
well. The formal framework for analysis will be
the Discourse Representation Theory (DRT).
In general informal terms, the difference
between TDEs and TLAs can be put as follows:
the former include (direct or indirect
1
)
representations of intervals, or sets of intervals,
while the latter include phrases which locate
entities (e.g. eventualities) on the time axis.
Often, the distinction between them is
unproblematic:
(1) a. Portugal became a Republic [in [1910]].
b. Several epidemics swept through
Europe [during [the 14th century]].
In these examples, the expressions within the
inner brackets − 1910, the 14th century − are
clearly TDEs, while the prepositional phrases
that contain them as complements − in 1910,
                                                     
1
 Indirect representation of intervals is performed,
e.g., by temporal subordinate clauses or situational
NPs, which primarily describe eventualities, but can
act as derived TDEs when used as complements of
temporal prepositions – cf. e.g. Rohrer (1977) and
Hamann (1989).
during the 14th century − are TLAs, which
temporally locate the eventualities represented
in the remainder of the clause.
Sometimes, however, the dividing line
between these two categories is unclear. This is
due namely to the existence of expressions that
can surface with exactly the same form in the
typical contexts (to be defined below, in section
2) of both TDEs and TLAs, hence appearing to be
ambivalent. This is the case of relatively simple
expressions like English now, then, yesterday,
and last week, for instance (or their approximate
Portuguese counterparts agora, então, ontem,
and a semana passada, respectively). See the
following pairs of sentences, where the
expressions in italics occur in a typical context
of a TDE (namely as the complement of since or
until) in the a sentences, and in a typical context
of a TLA (namely in adverbial position) in b:
(2) a. John has been in Paris since yesterday.
b. John left the hospital yesterday.
(3) a. Until then, John had been happy.
b. Then, John felt very miserable.
(4) a. John has been in Paris since last week.
b. John left for Paris last week.
More interestingly, this is also the case of
relatively more complex expressions, which
include a temporal preposition (or prepositional-
like particle), such as English before, after,
between, when, ago or from (or their
approximate Portuguese counterparts antes,
depois, entre, quando, há and de (...a)
respectively):
(5) a. John has been a clerk since before 1980.
b. John graduated before 1980.
(6) a. John was a clerk until three years ago.
b. John graduated three years ago.
This distribution raises a categorisation issue
that I will try to tackle in this paper, namely
whether this kind of apparently ambivalent
phrases should be regarded as temporal locating
adverbials, as time-denoting expressions or as
both. My contention here will be that they
should (all) be taken as mere time-denoting
expressions, i.e. expressions that denote
intervals, or sets of intervals, but that do not –
just by themselves – locate eventualities on the
time axis, therefore requiring the presence of an
– explicit or implicit – temporal preposition like
in, during, since, until, or the like, when used
adverbially. Before proceeding to the arguments,
let us briefly consider some basic semantic and
syntactic properties of the categories under
analysis.
2 Basic semantic and syntactic
characterisation
The semantic characterisation of TDEs and TLAs,
already briefly sketched above, is next
formulated.
Time-denoting expressions represent
intervals or sets of intervals. They do not, just by
themselves, locate the eventualities (or other
entities) described in the structures to which
they apply. Formally, within a DRT- framework,
a given time-denoting expression TDE simply
introduces a time discourse referent t, together
with a condition of the form TDE (t). TDEs may
(but need not) occur as part of a TLA − cf. Paulo
died in 1980 vs. 1980 was a splendid year.
Temporal locating adverbials contribute a
more complex meaning. More specifically, I
assume that they play two concurrent roles (cf.
Móia 2000a, for details): (i) they define the
location time of the sentence − t − out of the
interval represented by the complement TDE of
the temporal preposition − t
c
 −, i.e. that state that
some relation R holds between the two
intervals: R (t, t
c
); for instance, t
c
 may coincide
with t (with e.g. in- or during-phrases), or set
one of its boundaries (with e.g. since- or until-
phrases); (ii) they contribute to defining a
relation R′ (e.g. overlap or inclusion) between
the location time t and the located eventuality ev
(which is described in the basic sentence) − R′
(ev, t).
These differences in denotation go, quite
naturally, on a par with differences in
distribution. An obvious one involves the
(im)possibility of direct combination with
eventuality descriptions. Being mere designators
of intervals, or sets of intervals, TDEs − as such
− are expected not to combine directly with
descriptions of eventualities, this combination
requiring the presence of a locating particle,
such as during or in. This clearly tells 1910
apart from in 1910, for instance:
(7) Portugal became a Republic *(in) 1910.
Conversely, other contexts are apparently
exclusive to TDEs. In these contexts, temporal
expressions headed by e.g. in, during, since or
until cannot (in principle) occur. Four of such
contexts are described as follows: (i) arguments
of temporal nominal predicates like period,
year, or month – cf. (8a) – or of non-temporal
predicates (like terrible or disaster) representing
properties that can be predicated of time
stretches – cf. (8b); (ii) arguments of equative
be, in constructions where the other member of
the equation is an (undisputed) TDE – cf. (8c);
(iii) (normally prepositioned) complements of
temporal predicates, like schedule (for), date
(from) or date back (to) – cf. (8d-e); (iv)
complements of temporal prepositions like since
or until:– cf. (8f):
(8) a. (*In) 1910 was a very tense year in
Portugal.
b. (*In) the year 1980 was a disaster to me.
c. (*In) 1910 was the year in which
Portugal became a Republic.
d. The elections are scheduled for (*in)
June.
e. This bridge dates from (*in) the 12th
century.
f. Portugal has been a Republic since
(*in) 1910.
Many temporal expressions only occur in the
typical contexts of TDEs, and can therefore,
rather uncontroversially, be classified as such.
Some examples in Portuguese and English are: o
século XX / the 20th century, os anos 70 / the
seventies, o ano de 1910 / the year 1910,
Janeiro / January, 11 de Outubro / October 11,
as três horas / three o’ clock, or o meio-dia /
noon. However, as was said above, many other
expressions may occur, with the same surface
form, in the typical contexts of both TDEs and
TLAs, thus raising the already mentioned
categorisation issue. Let us now consider these
apparently ambivalent expressions in some
detail.
3 Apparently ambivalent time-denoting
/ temporal locating expressions
A first group of apparently ambivalent phrases is
composed of sequences that can freely occur
with or without a temporal locating preposition,
without semantic variation, when combined with
eventuality descriptions. Some examples, in
Portuguese, are the names of days of the week –
e.g. sábado [Saturday] – and expressions with
the deictical adjective passado [last], like a
semana passada [last week]. See the following
Portuguese sentences (whose parenthesised
elements may or may not be expressed):
(9) O museu foi reaberto (em) a semana
passada.
“the museum was reopened (in) the
week past”
[The museum was reopened last week.]
(10) O museu estará aberto (no) sábado.
“the museum will-be open (on-the)
Saturday”
[The museum will be open on Saturday.]
In these examples, if the parenthesised elements
are omitted, the expressions in italic are used as
complete TLAs; otherwise (i.e. if the preposition
em is explicit), they are used as mere TDEs (as is,
for that matter, the case if they are preceded by
an explicit preposition like desde [since]).
In general, the (non-)mandatory character of
the preposition in this type of constructions
seems to be syntactically or lexically
determined, varying from language to language
for parallel expressions. Note, for instance, that
the grammatical English equivalent of (9) is
obligatorily non-prepositioned, while the
counterpart of (10) is prepositioned.
A second (larger) group of apparently
ambivalent phrases includes expressions that
systematically occur without any (explicit)
temporal locating particle in adverbial position.
English expressions like last week, or
referentially dependent English and Portuguese
adverbs like today / hoje, yesterday / ontem,
tomorrow / amanhã, now / agora, and then /
então belong in this group. Accordingly, the
main difference with respect to the first one
(mentioned above) is the ungrammaticality of
the use of a temporal preposition like English in
or Portuguese em in sentences where these
expressions occur adverbially:
(11) a. Ana got a new job (*in) yesterday.
b. A Ana arranjou um novo emprego
(*em) ontem.
(12) a. Ana is in his office (*in/at) now.
b. A Ana está no escritório (*em) agora.
This contrasts with the possibility of using the
same expressions as complements of other
temporal prepositions, like English since or
until, and their Portuguese counterparts desde
and até:
(13) a. Ana has been working in this company
since yesterday.
b. A Ana trabalha nesta empresa desde
ontem.
(14) a. Ana was in her office until now.
b. A Ana esteve no escritório até agora.
The non-prepositioned adverbial cases
illustrated in sentences (9)-(12) above are
treated by many authors − regarding English and
other languages − as involving a null preposition
with a value close to that of in (or on or at,
depending on the complement). Examples are
Asher et al. (1995: 109) for the French adverbial
hier [yesterday], and Kamp and Reyle (1993),
for the English adverbials with last: “from a
semantic viewpoint last Sunday functions rather
like a prepositional phrase, with an empty
preposition whose semantic contribution is the
same as that of on in on Sunday. This is what we
assume the syntax of the adverb last Sunday to
be” (p. 623).
At this point, it must be stressed that, under
this “null preposition analysis”, the expressions
at stake are not ambivalent: they are mere time-
denoting phrases in all the contexts in which
they occur. The property that distinguishes them
from other “canonical” TDEs (like 1910) is the
fact that they can − or must − occur with a null
locating preposition, when they are used
adverbially.
I will embrace this analysis and will,
furthermore, advocate – departing in this case
from the analyses currently adopted in the
semantic literature – that several other
expressions that are normally treated as
“canonical” TLAs should be put on a par with
those just mentioned, i.e. they should also be
treated as mere time-denoting expressions that
in adverbial contexts occur with a null
locating preposition. These are namely the
structurally complex expressions headed by the
English particles before, after, between, when,
ago, or from (and possibly others, similar to
them), and their counterparts in Portuguese, and
possibly other languages (cf. Table 1 below).
Notice that these complex expressions
already contain an explicit temporal particle
(prepositional or similar). Thus, when occurring
in adverbial position with no other explicit
preposition, I will postulate the existence of a
second invisible temporal particle:
(15) a. John graduated ∅
in
 before 1980.
b. John graduated ∅
in/at
 three years ago.
I think that at least four groups of these
structurally complex expressions − listed below
− can be distinguished (attending to the process
by which they define time intervals). The
question of how, precisely, intervals are defined
via these complex expressions, i.e. of what
specific properties these intervals have, will be
addressed only superficially, since this question
is far too complex to be tackled within the limits
of this paper. In the sets of sentences given
below, examples a illustrate the occurrence of
the italicised expressions in a characteristic
context of a TLA, and examples b their
occurrence in a characteristic context of a TDE.
I. Phrases expressing anteriority or posteriority,
in particular those headed by English before and
after, and Portuguese antes and depois:
(16) a. Ana got married after 1980.
a′. A Ana casou depois de 1980.
b. Ana worked in this company until after
1980.
b′. A Ana trabalhou nesta empresa até
depois de 1980.
These expressions define intervals (t) by
explicitly defining one of their boundaries (t
1
) –
cf. Móia (1998):
(17) a. before COMPL: [COMPL (t
1
)] ∧ [t ⊃⊂ t
1
]
b. after COMPL: [COMPL (t
1
)] ∧ [t
1
 ⊃⊂ t]
II. Phrases with English between, and
Portuguese entre:
(18) a. Europe was at war between 1914 and
1918.
a′. A Europa esteve em guerra entre 1914 e
1918.
b. This painting dates from between 1914
and 1918.
b′. Este quadro data de entre 1914 e 1918.
These expressions define intervals (t) by
explicitly defining both their boundaries (t
1
 and
t
2
):
(19) a. between COMPL
1
 and COMPL
2
:
[COMPL
1
(t
1
)] ∧ [COMPL
2
(t
2
)] ∧
[beg (t) ⊆ t
1
] ∧ [end (t) ⊆ t
2
]
b. between COMPL
2
: [COMPL(T)] ∧
[T = t
1
 ⊕ t
2
] ∧ [beg (t) ⊆ t
1
] ∧
[end (t) ⊆ t
2
]
III. Phrases with English when, and Portuguese
quando:
(20) a. The president hired a new secretary
when he returned from Brazil.
a′. O presidente contratou uma secretária
nova quando regressou do Brasil.
b. The president scheduled a meeting for
when he returns from Brazil.
b′. O presidente marcou uma reunião para
quando regressar do Brasil.
These expressions define intervals (t) via one of
a series of possible relations R with the
eventuality expressed in the sentence they
include (ev)
3
:
(21) when COMPL: [COMPL: ev] ∧ [t = R (ev)]
IV. Phrases like English X ago, X from COMPL,
X before/after COMPL, and Portuguese há X, de
COMPL a X, X antes/depois (de) COMPL  (where
X is either a predicate of amounts of time – like
two hours – or a quantified predicate of times, or
eventualities, like three weekends, or three
classes):
(22) a. Ana will get married two months from
now.
a′. A Ana vai casar daqui a dois meses.
b. The law will be in force until two years
from now.
b′. A lei estará em vigor até daqui a dois
anos.
These expressions define intervals (t) by
measuring time, or counting temporally ordered
entities, from anchor points (Apt)
4
. Two
examples of the relevant logic conditions
(expressed in the language of DRT), for cases
involving time measurement, are as follows:
                                                     
2
 (19b) applies to structures with plural complements,
like between the two world wars.
3
 t may either be the “loc” (in the sense of Kamp and
Reyle, 1993) of ev, its resultant state, or its
preparatory phase, for instance; in more complex
cases, an eventuality derived from ev by Aktionsart
shift may be involved (cf. e.g. Moens, 1987 and
Carecho, 1996). These complex issues are obviously
beyond the scope of this paper.
4
 Cf. Móia (2000a [chapter 7] and 2000b) for a more
thorough analysis of these expressions.
(23) a. COMPL ago: [COMPL (mt)] ∧
[dur (t
1
) = mt] ∧  [beg (t
1
) ≈ t]
5
 ∧
[end (t
1
) = Apt]
b. X-TIME before COMPL: [X-TIME (mt)],
[COMPL (Apt)] ∧ [dur (t
1
) = mt] ∧
[beg (t
1
) ≈ t] ∧ [end (t
1
) = Apt]
I. temporal locating particles
Portuguese English
em, ain, on, at
durante during, for
6
enquanto while, as long as
ao longo de throughout
desde, a partir de since, from
até until, by
de...até / a from...until / to
II. heads of (structurally complex)
time-denoting expressions
Portuguese English
antes before
depois after
entre between
quando when
haver ago
de...a
7
from
X-TIME antes X-TIME before
X-TIME depois X-TIME after
Table 1. Partition of the set of particles
traditionally classified as temporal locating
It must be stressed that by analysing all these
four groups of expressions as mere TDEs, the set
                                                     
5
 The condition [beg (t
1
) ≈ t] must be read as: “the
interval t (which is the interval denoted by the
expression as a whole) is an interval surrounding (up
to a contextually dependent limit) the beginning
of t
1
”. This definition is motivated by the fact that
these phrases do not behave as punctual, but rather as
extended ones (cf. Móia, 2000a).
6
 I take for to be a temporal locating preposition in
structures like for the last two months or for those
two months (cf. Móia, 2000a [chapter 5]).
7
 The discontinuous particle de...a can form a TLA −
e.g. de 1980 a 1985 (from 1980 to 1985) − or a TDE −
e.g. daqui a cinco dias (five days from now).
of temporal particles that are traditionally
classified as temporal locating is partitioned into
two main groups, illustrated in Table 1.
So far, the analysis under discussion was
essentially motivated by the multiple categorial
behaviour of the expressions at stake, namely
their ability to appear in the contexts of both
TLAs and TDEs. The point to stress is that this
analysis provides a uniform treatment of such
phrases, avoiding a double categorisation, and,
as a consequence, (arguably) conferring a
stronger generalisation power to the system. In
the next section, I will briefly show that
independent motivation exists for the two
components of the advocated analysis: (i) the
assignment of the categorial-denotational status
of TDEs to the relevant expressions; (ii) the
postulation of a higher invisible temporal
locating preposition.
4 Further motivation for the analysis
As for the assignment of the categorial-
denotational status of TDEs to the relevant
expressions, several arguments are supplied in
Móia (1998) to support a time-denoting analysis
of before- and after-phrases which can be
adapted, in a broader perspective, to the group
of expressions under analysis. Among these
arguments, I underline the possibility of
anaphoric reference to the intervals denoted (in
adverbial or non-adverbial contexts)
8
:
(24) a. Every student who graduated [before
the stock market crashed]
t
 is presently
employed. It was not so difficult to get
a job [then]
t
b. This painting does not date from [before
1300]
t
. There were no paintings like this
[then]
t
 / at [that time]
t
 / in [that period]
 t
As for the null locating preposition, the
following facts can be taken as favourable
arguments:
i. The systematic optionality of the postulated
locating preposition with a subgroup of
                                                     
8
 Other advantages of the proposed analysis seem
more specific to the before- and after- type of
phrases (cf. Móia 1998, where I argue for an analysis
in which these phrases, when occurring adverbially,
do not directly assert anteriority or posteriority, but
rather  inclusion – marked by null in – in an interval
defined along the lines of (17)).
ambivalent expressions – e.g. Portuguese
sábado or a semana passada (cf. (9)-(10),
repeated below):
(25) a. O museu esteve encerrado (em) a
semana passada.
b. O museu estará aberto (no) sábado.
ii. The (explicit) presence of the postulated
preposition in comparable forms of other
language variants, or of other languages – cf.
e.g. em antes (literally, in before), in certain
Northern Portuguese dialects, or in between, in
English:
(26) a. “...que as espigas, em antes de ir para o
canastro, tinham de se pôr a secar”
(corpus of oral discourse from the North
of Portugal)
b. Berlin was well known for its good
living in between the two world wars.
(Collins Cobuild English Dictionary)
iii. The (explicit) presence of the postulated
preposition before semantically equivalent
structures with the predicate period:
(27) a. That happened ∅
in
 [before Christmas].
b. That happened in [the period before
Christmas].
(28) a. Ana was travelling ∅
in
 [between June
and October].
b. Ana was travelling in [the period
between June and October]
Marginally, but quite symptomatically, it
must be emphasised that the presence of null
prepositions seems to be motivated also within
other temporal subsystems, like duration and
temporal quantification:
(29) a. Ana only slept  ∅
for
 about half an hour.
b. Ana went to Paris ∅
in
 every week.
(cf. e.g. Rothstein, 1995)
In addition to the arguments already
presented, the following (crucial) one can be
adduced: the advocated analysis correctly
predicts the possibility of recursion of the
particles treated as heads of complex TDEs
and the impossibility of recursion of the true
temporal locating particles (given their role in
defining the – unique – location time of the
sentence). Compare the grammaticality of
expressions like those in (30) with the
ungrammaticality of e.g. those in (31):
(30) a. before two months ago
a′. antes de há dois meses
b. (in the period) between two years ago
and six months ago
b′. (no período) entre há dois anos e há seis
meses
c. between two months before the start of
the war and the second week of the
fighting
c′. entre dois meses antes do começo da
guerra e a segunda semana de combates
d. More than three months elapsed between
when the bridge was built and when the
first vehicles crossed it.
d′. Passaram-se mais de três meses entre
quando a ponte foi construída e quando
os primeiros automóveis a cruzaram.
(31) *since in, *in since, *until throughout
Obviously, the occurrence of more than one of
these heads in a sequence is limited by e.g.
(i) specific properties of the connectives, which
prevent, for example, in normal circumstances,
the sequences before after, or in X-TIME ago,
and (ii) discourse simplicity, which imposes the
avoidance of some theoretically possible forms
if simpler equivalent ones are available.
Note still that, given the appropriate
conditions, these rather complex expressions
may occur as the complement of an explicit
temporal locating preposition, thus forming a
particularly complex TLA:
(32) A: I will give up smoking two weeks from
now.
B: I don’t believe you. You will go on
smoking until long after {that / 
?
two
weeks from now}.
5 Conclusion
By analysing all the phrases discussed in this
paper as mere TDEs, I depart from the usual
picture of time adverbials in the literature
(where the expressions at stake are often
included in the class of frame, or locating,
adverbials – cf. e.g. Bennett and Partee, 1978, or
Kamp and Reyle, 1993 – or are grouped into
different subclasses – cf. e.g. Quirk et al, 1985,
or Smith, 1991). Given the limits of this text, it
is not possible to go through the previously
proposed categorisations here (cf. Móia, 2000a,
for a brief analysis of some of them). Suffice it
to say that those categorisations do not seem to
account for the type of differences focussed on
in this paper, unless a double-category approach
is assumed
9
.
The dividing line between temporal locating
adverbials and time-denoting expressions I
propose is drawn (for the structurally complex
cases) according to the particle that heads them,
as expressed in Table 1. This dividing line
corresponds with significant distributional
differences exhibited by the particles at stake.
Quite interestingly, a similar partition seems
also pertinent within the domain of spatial
adverbials. Apparently, (at least some of) the
arguments used to advocate a time-denoting
status for e.g. before-phrases can also be used to
claim a comparable (space-denoting) status for
expressions like under the table, which, in some
languages, occur with an explicit spatial locating
preposition − “AT under the table” (Chinese)
10
.
Spatial homonyms of temporal locating
prepositions − e.g. English in, on, at,
through(out), from...to, or Portuguese em,
através, desde, a partir de, até, de...a − clearly
qualify as spatial locating particles. Spatial
prepositions like, for example, English between,
behind, and near and their Portuguese
counterparts entre, trás, and perto possibly
qualify as heads of (structurally complex)
space-denoting expressions − cf. their
occurrence in argumental position in the
following Portuguese example:
(33) A Ana deslocou o sofá para {entre as
duas portas / trás da porta / perto da
janela}.
“the Ana moved the sofa to {between
the two doors / behind of-the door / near
of-the window}”
Acknowledgements
I thank João Peres for insightful comments on
previous versions of this paper.
                                                     
9
 My primary concern is the distinction between
TDEs and TLAs, based on the (generic) syntactic and
semantic differences considered in this paper.
Obviously, this does not preclude further
subcategorisation of the expressions at stake (or of
some of them), based on other syntactic or semantic
properties (cf. e.g. the categorisations of Borillo,
1983, which pays heed to anaphoric properties, or
Asher et al., 1995).
10
 James Higginbotham, p.c.

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