In linguistics, an intersective modifier is an expression which modifies another by delivering the intersection of their denotations. One example is the English adjective "blue", whose intersectivity can be seen in the fact that being a "blue pig" entails being both blue and a pig. By contrast, the English adjective "former" is non-intersective since a "former president" is neither former nor a president.[1][2]
When a modifier is intersective, its contribution to the sentence's truth conditions do not depend on the particular expression it modifies. This means that one can test whether a modifier is intersective by seeing whether it gives rise to valid reasoning patterns such as the following.[3]
Floyd is a Canadian surgeon.
Floyd is an arsonist.
Valid: Therefore Floyd is a Canadian arsonist.
With a non-intersective modifiers such as "skillful", the equivalent deduction would not be valid.[4]
Floyd is a skillful surgeon.
Floyd is an arsonist.
Not valid: Therefore Floyd is a skillful arsonist.
Modifiers can be ambiguous, having both intersective and nonintersective interpretations. For instance, the example below has an intersective reading on which Oleg is both beautiful and a dancer, but it also has a merely subsective reading on which Oleg dances beautifully but need not himself be beautiful.[5]
Oleg is a beautiful dancer.
On a textbook semantics for modification, an intersective modifier denotes the set of individuals which have the property in question. When the modifier modifies a modifiee which also denotes a set of individuals, the resulting phrase denotes the intersection of their denotations.[6]
Such meanings can be composed either by introducing an interpretation rule Predicate Modification which hard-codes intersectivity. However, this mode of composition can also be delivered by standard Function Application if the modifier is given a higher semantic type, either lexically or by applying a type shifter.[6]
Predicate Modification Rule: If is a branching node with daughters and where , then .
^Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification(PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 14–16.
^Kennedy, Chris (2012). "Adjectives" (PDF). In Graff Fara, Delia; Russell, Gillian (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Language. Routledge.
^Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification(PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 16.
^Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification(PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 17.
^Morzycki, Marcin (2016). Modification(PDF). Cambridge University Press. p. 19.
^ abHeim, Irene; Kratzer, Angelika (1998). Semantics in Generative Grammar. Blackwell. pp. 63–68. ISBN 0631197133.
and 28 Related for: Intersective modifier information
arsonist. Modifiers can be ambiguous, having both intersective and nonintersective interpretations. For instance, the example below has an intersective reading...
technically an intersective reading since it is derived by intersecting the modifier with the noun. However, it does not look like a typical intersective meaning...
(privative, predicative) That is a blue pig. (intersective, attributive) That pig is blue. (intersective, predicative) In part because of this pattern...
grammar, a noun adjunct, attributive noun, qualifying noun, noun (pre)modifier, or apposite noun is an optional noun that modifies another noun; functioning...
virtually all modifiers come before the noun, whereas in the Khmer language they follow the noun.) Sometimes a noun with a postpositive modifier comes to form...
beautiful dancer than Mary Intersective: I've never met a dancer who is more beautiful (as a person) than Mary Non-intersective: I've never met anyone dancing...
as intersective, subsective, or nonsubsective, with nonsubsective adjectives being plain nonsubsective or privative. An adjective is intersective if and...
of the fibrous connective tissue. When the term fibroma is used without modifier, it is usually considered benign, with the term fibrosarcoma reserved for...
a reflexive pronoun because it functions as an adverbial or adnominal modifier, not as an argument of a verb. Both intensive and reflexive pronouns make...
pre-modifiers, college is a noun adjunct, student is the noun serving as the head of the phrase, and to whom you were talking is a post-modifier (a relative...
complement of another verb), and sometimes being adverbs or other types of modifier. Many verb forms known as infinitives differ from gerunds (verbal nouns)...
and clearer since they replace nouns. Adjective (describes, limits) a modifier of a noun or pronoun (big, brave). Adjectives make the meaning of another...
that he eats!' Unlike other verbs, stative verbs do not require the intersective linker ba when they modify a noun. Abui has a small class of adjectives...
occurs as a subgender of nouns and modifiers (and pronouns only when adjectival) and is primarily reflected in modifier-head agreement (as opposed to subject-predicate...
Bits: Bits 7:4 are modifiers for Playfield Mode instructions in bits 3:0. Bit value 1 Enables the modifier, and 0 disables the modifier. Bit 3:Bit 0 - Playfield...
editor, but capable of simple CSG using meta objects and using the Boolean modifier on mesh objects. Clara.io Geant4 MCNP SketchUp Foley, James D. (1996),...
connects two clauses by converting the clause it introduces into an adverbial modifier of the verb in the main clause. For example, in "I told him; thus, he knows"...
stative and inchoative can be expressed in English is through the use of modifiers, as in the above examples ("suddenly" and "at one time"). Likewise, in...
form a verb phrase, possibly taking objects and other dependents and modifiers that are typical of verbs; however, that verb phrase then plays the role...
the classification systems demonstrate good liability. A qualification modifier (Q) is used for associated ulnar fracture. For children and adolescents...
Geometric Shapes, Greek Extended, IPA Extensions, Number Forms, Spacing Modifier Letters. New OpenType scripts include Arabic MAR script. Additional OpenType...
certain sentence member, e.g., to provide a "support" on which to hang a modifier. The word most commonly considered as a prop-word in English is one (with...
single line by a modifier 'v' ("vertical", interpreted relative to the piece's current position on its path). Similarly, the modifier 'f' ("forward") would...
Instead the GM will apply various modifiers to add or subtract to the skill level. In this way, positive modifiers increase the chance for success by...
Global Information![{\displaystyle [\![{\text{blue}}]\!]=\{x\,|\,x{\text{ is blue }}\}}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/93ef31572a204182e797e3106ed20927bb4ce808)
![{\displaystyle [\![{\text{blue pig}}]\!]=\{x\,|\,x{\text{ is blue }}\}\cap \{x\,|\,x{\text{ is a pig }}\}}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/465e17f811647a69c61ac8dc0efafe44c2c44105)
![{\displaystyle [\![\beta ]\!],[\![\gamma ]\!]\in {\mathcal {D}}_{\langle e,t\rangle }}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/9996e483ad0f0b6d767396a4c939e496747225f4)
![{\displaystyle [\![\alpha ]\!]=\lambda x_{e}\,.\,x\in [\![\beta ]\!]\cap [\![\gamma ]\!]}](https://wikimedia.org/api/rest_v1/media/math/render/svg/519a55beed3aba2b22fd1be1daa23f932173581b)