ABSTRACT

Intensional verbs constitute a semantically defined subset of verbs (e.g. assert, believe, seek) with the following properties. (a) In their context, noun phrases are ambiguous, they can be read both attributively as well as referentially ( attributive vs referential reading); for example, in Caroline is looking for a cat with white paws, cat can refer both to any cat with white paws as well as to a particular cat with white paws. (b) In complement clauses, noun phrases of the same extension (which refer to the same referent) cannot be substituted in all contexts without changing the truth value of the superordinate sentence, cf. Philip wants to know if Shakespeare is the author of ‘Macbeth’ vs Philip wants to know if Shakespeare is Shakespeare.