On the semantics of unit fractions
Ido Benbaji-Elhadad, Jad Wehbe
December 2024 

We present two novel observations concerning the linguistic behavior of unit fractions, e.g., half, third etc., which challenge their analysis as proportional quantifiers/modifiers, arguing instead that in certain environments fractions presuppose contextually salient partitions over individuals. We distinguish environments that require a salient partition from those that do not, and propose a syntax and semantics for fractions that derives the distinction.

Please note: the official publication, which can be accessed here (link), has some errors that are fixed in the version provided below.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008503 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Proceedings of Sinn Und Bedeutung 28, 131–149.
keywords:	half, quantifiers, numerals, partitions, semantics, syntax
previous versions:	v1 [October 2024]
Downloaded:	1024 times

 

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