On the interpretation of VP inversion in American English

Abstract

Previous functional analyses of American English inversion constructions (for example, Hartvigson & Jakobsen, 1974; Gary, 1976; Green, 1980, 1982) have recognized – either implicitly or explicitly – that inverted sentences and their canonical-word-order counterparts are semantically equivalent. None the less, in Ward & Birner (to appear), we describe a non-truth-conditional asymmetry between the interpretation of certain VP inversions and that of their canonical-word-order counterparts.2 Consider (1a) and (2b) in the following context: (1) Free elections were held yesterday in Czechoslovakia for the first time since the war. (a) The main opposition party was losing the election. (b) Losing the election was the main opposition party. (c) The main opposition party lost the election.