Homogeneity, underspecification, and ambiguity in plural predication
Moshe E. Bar-Lev
December 2024 

A prominent view of homogeneity takes it to be the result of a trivalent distributivity operator. Križ (2015) challenged this view by pointing out the existence of non-distributive plural predication which is nonetheless homogeneous. In this paper I argue that this challenge disappears once a trivalent cumulativity operator (based on Link’s star operator), which derives meanings that are underspecified for distributivity and collectivity, is taken to be responsible for homogeneity instead. I point out that when this view is combined with a solution offered by Schwarzschild and Heim for the challenge of deriving both underspecified and ambiguous meanings (using ‘covers’), the challenge of deriving both distributive and non-distributive homogeneity is immediately resolved. I further argue that the view that emerges provides an explanation for the variation between predicates with respect to homogeneity and underspecification, and correctly predicts it to be context-dependent. [An earlier version of this manuscript was circulated under the title "specification and homogeneity in plural predication": https://semanticsarchive.net/Archive/WQ5ODgyY/]

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Reference:	lingbuzz/008231 (please use that when you cite this article)
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keywords:	homogeneity, pluralization, covers, distributivity, collectivity, underspecification, context-snsitivity, semantics
previous versions:	v2 [December 2024] v1 [June 2024]
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