Abstract
An argument by Kratzer (2000) based on Schein (1986, 1993) does not conclusively show that events and thematic roles are necessary ingredients of the logical representation of natural language sentences. The argument claims that cumulative readings of every can be represented only with these ingredients. But scope-splitting accounts make it possible to represent cumulative readings of every in an eventless framework. Such accounts are motivated by obligatory reconstruction effects of every and by crosslinguistic considerations. Kratzer proposes that agent but not theme occurs in the logical representation of sentences because this allows her to model subject-object asymmetries in the distribution of cumulative every. But the reason for these asymmetries seems to be that every must be c-commanded by another quantifier in order to cumulate with it, no matter what its thematic role is. So the distribution of cumulative every does not provide support for Kratzer’s proposal.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bayer, S.L.: Confessions of a Lapsed Neo-Davidsonian: Events and Arguments in Compositional Semantics. Garland, New York (1997)
Beck, S., Sauerland, U.: Cumulation is needed: A reply to Winter 2000. Natural Language Semantics 8(4), 349–371 (2000)
Brasoveanu, A.: Modified numerals as post-suppositions. In: Aloni, M., Bastiaanse, H., de Jager, T., Schulz, K. (eds.) Amsterdam Colloquium 2009. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 6042, pp. 203–212. Springer, Heidelberg (2009)
Chomsky, N.: A minimalist program for linguistic theory. In: Hale, K., Keyser, J. (eds.) The View from Building 20. Essays in Linguistics in Honor of Sylvain Bromberger, pp. 1–52. MIT Press, Cambridge (1993)
Davidson, D.: The logical form of action sentences. In: Rescher, N. (ed.) The logic of decision and action, pp. 81–95. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh (1967)
Engdahl, E.: Constituent Questions. D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht (1986)
Fox, D.: Reconstruction, binding theory, and the interpretation of chains. Linguistic Inquiry 30(2), 157–196 (1999)
Fox, D.: Antecedent-contained deletion and the copy theory of movement. Linguistic Inquiry 33(1), 63–96 (2002)
Groenendijk, J., Janssen, T., Stokhof, M. (eds.): Truth, interpretation, information. Foris, Dordrecht (1984)
Johnson, K.: Determiners. Talk presented at On Linguistic Interfaces, Ulster (2007)
Kratzer, A.: The event argument and the semantics of verbs. Manuscript, ch. 2. University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2000)
Krifka, M.: Nominalreferenz und Zeitkonstitution. Zur Semantik von Massentermen, Pluraltermen und Aspektklassen. Fink, München (published 1986)
Krifka, M.: Pragmatic strengthening in plural predications and donkey sentences. In: Galloway, T., Spence, J. (eds.) Proceedings of SALT 6, Ithaca. CLC Publications, Cornell University (1996)
Krifka, M.: At least some determiners aren’t determiners. In: Turner, K. (ed.) The Semantics/Pragmatics Interface from Different Points of View, pp. 257–291. Elsevier, Amsterdam (1999)
Kroch, A.S.: The semantics of scope in English. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass. (1974)
Landman, F.: Events and plurality: The Jerusalem lectures. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (2000)
Lee, T.: Studies on quantification in Chinese. PhD thesis, University of California at Los Angeles (1986)
Lin, J.-W.: Distributivity in Chinese and its implications. Natural Language Semantics 6, 201–243 (1998)
Link, G.: The logical analysis of plurals and mass terms: A lattice-theoretical approach. In: Bäuerle, R., Schwarze, C., von Stechow, A. (eds.) Meaning, use and interpretation of language, pp. 303–323. de Gruyter, Berlin (1983)
Link, G.: Algebraic semantics in language and philosophy. CSLI, Stanford (1998)
Liu, F.-H.: Scope Dependency in English and Chinese. PhD thesis, University of California at Los Angeles (1990)
Malamud, S.: (Non-)Maximality and distributivity: a decision theory approach. In: Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Semantics and Linguistic Theory (SALT 16), Tokyo, Japan (2006)
Matthewson, L.: Quantification and the nature of crosslinguistic variation. Natural Language Semantics 9, 145–189 (2001)
Parsons, T.: Events in the semantics of English. MIT Press, Cambridge (1990)
Roberts, C.: Modal subordination, anaphora, and distributivity. PhD thesis, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1987)
Sauerland, U.: The meaning of chains. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (1998)
Sauerland, U.: A new semantics for number. In: The Proceedings of SALT 13, Ithaca, N.Y, pp. 258–275. Cornell University/CLC-Publications (2003)
Sauerland, U.: The interpretation of traces. Natural Language Semantics 12, 63–127 (2004)
Scha, R.: Distributive, collective and cumulative quantification. In: Groenendijk, J., Janssen, T., Stokhof, M. (eds.) Formal methods in the study of language, Mathematical Center Tracts, Amsterdam (1981); Reprinted in Groenendijk et al. (1984)
Schein, B.: Event logic and the interpretation of plurals. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA (1986)
Schein, B.: Plurals and events. MIT Press, Cambridge (1993)
Schein, B.: Plurals. In: Lepore, E., Smith, B.C. (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Language. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2006)
Schwarzschild, R.: Pluralities. Kluwer, Dordrecht (1996)
Sternefeld, W.: Reciprocity and cumulative predication. Natural Language Semantics 6, 303–337 (1998)
Szabolcsi, A. (ed.): Ways of scope taking. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht (1997)
Zweig, E.: Dependent plurals and plural meaning. PhD thesis, NYU, New York, N.Y. (2008)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Champollion, L. (2010). Cumulative Readings of Every Do Not Provide Evidence for Events and Thematic Roles. In: Aloni, M., Bastiaanse, H., de Jager, T., Schulz, K. (eds) Logic, Language and Meaning. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 6042. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_22
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14287-1_22
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14286-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14287-1
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)