Restrictive if/when clauses

Farkas, Donka F.; Sugioka, Yoko

doi:10.1007/bf00635644

Cited by 70 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…With respect to singular nominals in generic constructionss, Farkas and de Swart (2006) follow Carlson's (1977) original insight in treating the definite singular in (4) as referring to a special atom k in the model, one that is kind-level and unique. We follow Farkas and Sugioka (1983), Diesing (1992), Krifka et al (1995) and others, in treating the indefinite singular in generic generalizations like (5) as an ordinary indefinite, introducing a discourse referent u that is interpreted in the restrictor of a silent generic operator Gen. Gen is similar in status to an adverbial quantifier like always, usually, generally, but remains implicit. Such adverbs are taken to be unselective quantifiers in Kamp (1981) and Heim (1982), so they bind all the variables in their scope.…”

Section: An Ot Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Article choice in plural generics

Farkas

Swart

2007

Lingua

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We discuss two groups of languages where article use contrasts in generic plural sentences but is otherwise essentially similar. The languages in the first group (English and Dutch) use bare plurals in the expression of kind reference ('Dinosaurs are extinct') and in generic generalizations ('Dogs are intelligent'). The languages in the second group (French, Italian, Hungarian) use definite plurals in both cases ('Les dinosaures ont disparu', 'Les chiens sont intelligents' in French). We account for this contrast in terms of a competition between definite and indefinite forms formalized in terms of two O(ptimality) T(heoretic) syntactic constraints. The two language groups are given a uniform semantics. The contrast emerges in the interaction between the semantics of generic plural sentences and the relative weight assigned to the two constraints.

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Section: An Ot Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Article choice in plural generics

Farkas

Swart

2007

Lingua

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“…Carlson & Pelletier 1995, Mari et al 2013 for overviews). For the sake of illustration, we assume that the source of genericity in indefinite generic sentences is external to the subject DP and treat the indefinite as nonquantificational (see Farkas & Sugioka 1983, Cohen 2001, Greenberg 2002, Krifka 2013. Given these assumptions, the representation of 70a will be as in 73, where Gen represents a generic quantifier.…”

Section: Temporal Distribution We Propose That Temporal Fas Denote Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Distributional modification: The case of frequency adjectives

Gehrke¹,

McNally²

2015

lan

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We argue that distributional modification is one strategy that language affords for composing propositions about the quantity of entities that participate in a given situation. Distributional modifiers apply to kind descriptions, contributing the entailment that the kind is instantiated by a set of tokens with a particular distribution. As a case study, we analyze frequency adjectives (FAs, e.g. occasional). We show that previous work, including our own, has suffered for focusing on the paraphrases of FAs rather than on their morphosyntax. We argue for two subclasses of FAs: those that are intersective modifiers sortally restricted to events, and those that are not. The study reinforces two novel theoretical claims in Gehrke & McNally 2011: sometimes kinds are realized by sets of tokens, rather than individual tokens; and some clauses constitute descriptions of event kinds, rather than event tokens.*

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“…Before the components in (31-32) are assembled together to define the semantic meaning of the PRP sentence, a few words are in order regarding what the GEN operator means. Farkas andSugioka (1983), Chierchia (1995), and Kratzer (1995) all took GEN to mean essentially "generally, always" and to be an unselective binder that can bind world variables, individual variables, and so on. By contrast, Krifka et al (1995) and several other researchers assumed an intensional operator analysis of the operator, whereby GEN is analyzed as an unselective universal quantifier that is roughly paraphrasable as 'must.'…”

Section: Partitioning and Degree Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compare Within and Between Groups: The Interpretation of Weak Generic Sentences

Xie

2016

Open Linguistics

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This paper explicates the precise meaning of weak generic sentences of the form Ks are P, best represented by the Port Royal Puzzle sentence Dutchmen are good sailors. The sentence is true even though the majority of Dutchmen do not know how to sail at all and a fortiori do not sail well. Two observations motivate my analysis. One is that weak generic sentences express a property that "distinguishes the subject referent from other entities that might belong to the same category" (Krifka et al. 1995). This leads to the use of alternative set in my analysis. The other observation is that the scale structure of the predicate P affects the availability of weak generic reading for sentences of the form Ks are P. I argue that the interpretation of weak generic sentences involves: (i) partitioning the set of entities denoted by the bare plural subject based on the property denoted by the predicate P; (ii) partitioning the set of entities alternative to the denotation of the subject in a similar fashion; and (iii) comparing an appropriate partition in (i) to its counterpart in (ii) with respect to the predicate P. The Port Royal Puzzle sentence is true if and only if: those Dutchmen who can sail and who are good at sailing in comparison with the Dutch-internal standard of being good at sailing and those international citizens who can sail and who are good at sailing in comparison to the international standard of being good at sailing are such that the former population generally have better sailing skills than the latter population.

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Restrictive if/when clauses

Cited by 70 publications

References 2 publications

Article choice in plural generics

Article choice in plural generics

Distributional modification: The case of frequency adjectives

Compare Within and Between Groups: The Interpretation of Weak Generic Sentences

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