Reversive
Revision as of 06:39, 23 June 2009 by Haspelmath (talk | contribs) (moved Reversives to Reversive: dictionary article titles are singular)
Two predicates P and Q are said to be reversives iff they describe change in opposite directions, relative to some reference point R; if both P and Q take place (to the same extent), the change brought about by one predicate is undone by the other.
- Illustration
- P = enter; P denotes a change of state from S1 (x is outside) to S2 (x is inside)
- Q = leave; Q denotes a change of state from S2 (x is inside) to S1 (x is outside)
- John entered the house (S1 → S2)
- John left the house (S2 → S1)