Expecting Many

Abstract

. The determiner many is analyzed relative to a notion of expectation that is introduced into contexts employed in the theory of generalized quantifiers. Issues concerning intensionality, vagueness, ambiguity and context change are considered along the way.

Analysis of the intermediate quantifier “Many” in fuzzy natural logic*

“…We argue that "Many" is more vague than the other quantifiers and so, it does not necessarily have the property of sub-contrary, as argued by Peterson in [25]. The quantifier "Many" was also semantically and complexly studied in [8,21].…”

The semantics ofmany, much, few, andlittle

“…Recent semantic analyses have tried to derive the cardinal and proportional interpretations from a single underspecified, context-sensitive lexical entry, both in quantificational accounts (Westerståhl, 1985;Lappin, 2000;Cohen, 2001;Romero, 2015) and non-quantificational accounts (Rett, 2008b;Solt, 2009). The availability of the "reverse proportional" interpretation means that, if quantity words denote quantifiers, they violate conservativity (Westerståhl, 1985); this has lead those working in a quantificational framework to conclude that quantity words require an intensional analysis (Fernando & Kamp, 1996).…”

Not Only Barbara

“…(Fernando and Kamp 1996;Bastiaanse 2014) There can be overt disagreement on the choice of alternatives that one on occasion takes into account, which is not a (syntactically) given. However, it is important to note that all such qualifications, also depend on the particular choice for either a nominally or a verbally restricted interpretation of "many", a choice which, hence, cannot be neglected in any analysis.…”