A unified semantics for distributive and non-distributive universal quantifiers across languages
Nina Haslinger, N. Alain Hien, Emil Rosina, Viola Schmitt, Valerie Wurm
October 2023 

Universal quantifiers differ in whether they are restricted to distributive interpretations, like English `every', or permit non-distributive interpretations, like English `all'. This interpretative difference correlates with a morpho-syntactic difference: cross-linguistically, distributive universal quantifiers take singular complements, while non-distributive quantifiers take plural complements. Based on the lexical contrast found in languages like English, the interpretational difference is traditionally captured by positing two unrelated lexical entries for distributive and non-distributive quantification, which leaves the correlation between distributivity and the morpho-syntactic number of the complement unexplained. In contrast, we propose a single lexical meaning for the universal quantifier that derives this correlation. Support comes from several unrelated languages that express distributive and non-distributive quantification using the same lexical item, with the interpretation determined by the number of the complement. For languages like English that have different expressions for non-distributive and distributive quantification, we propose that the distributive forms contain an additional morphosyntactic element that is semantically restricted to combine with a predicate of atomic individuals. This is motivated by the fact that in several languages, the form used in distributive quantification is structurally more complex than the non-distributive form and sometimes even contains it transparently.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/007632 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Draft
keywords:	universal quantification, distributivity, non-distributivity, morpho-syntactic number, morphosemantics, semantics, morphology, syntax
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