Knowledge, causality, and temporal representation

In this paper, a formal semantic account of the simple past tense in text is offered. The contributions to the interpretation of text made by the texts syntactic structure, semantic content, aspectual classification, world knowledge of the causal relations between events, and Gricean pragmatic maxims are all represented within a single logical framework. This feature of the theory gives rise to solutions to several puzzles concerning the relation between the descriptive order of events in text and their temporal relations in interpretation. 1 The Problem If John hits Max, causing Max to turn round (to face John), then text (1) reflects this while (2) distorts it: (1) John hit Max. Max turned round. (2) Max turned round. John hit him. At least, (2) distorts it in the `null context in which Ive represented it. So the order in which such clauses appear is crucial. It gives rise to an Ordering Question: given a particular order in which events are described, what are the constraints in ...