Scalar Structure Underlies Telicity in “Degree Achievements”

So-called “degree achievements” (DAs), such as widen, lengthen, cool, dry, and straighten, have long caused problems for theories of aspectual classification, because they constitute one area in which the traditional Vendler/Dowty system breaks down.1 As first observed in Dowty 1979, these verbs display both telic and atelic properties according to standard diagnostics (see also Abusch 1986). This paper explores and analyzes the specific problems associated with DAs in an effort to better understand the underpinnings of telicity. The aspectual inconsistency of DAs can be illustrated by examining their behavior with respect to several standard tests for (a)telicity. For example, atelic predicates are known to be entailed by their progressive forms, while telic predicates are not (Vendler 1957, Dowty 1979):