Anaphoric potential of cumulative dependencies

This paper discusses the anaphoric potential of non-quantificational plural arguments, inquiring whether cumulative readings introduce new 'quantificational dependencies'. I show that (i) 'quantificational subordination' against non-distributive readings is often quite degraded, but (ii) common knowledge inference sometimes improves its acceptability, and (iii) non-distributive plural anaphora against cumulative readings may induce a co-varying reading. This suggests that cumulative readings may indeed introduce new dependencies, but their availability is limited. I propose that non-distributive readings ‘underspecify’ dependencies, while distributive readings highlight specific dependencies, and its interaction with pronoun maximality blocks quantificational subordination against cumulative readings. I implement it with 'State-based Dynamic Plural Logic' which keeps track of 'quantificational alternatives'.

Publication Details

Journal
UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam)
Published
2024-12-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.18148/sub/2024.v28.1155
Primary Topic
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

Funders

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article

Anaphoric potential of cumulative dependencies

UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam)
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
article

Anaphoric potential of cumulative dependencies

article en

Abstract

This paper discusses the anaphoric potential of non-quantificational plural arguments, inquiring whether cumulative readings introduce new 'quantificational dependencies'. I show that (i) 'quantificational subordination' against non-distributive readings is often quite degraded, but (ii) common knowledge inference sometimes improves its acceptability, and (iii) non-distributive plural anaphora against cumulative readings may induce a co-varying reading. This suggests that cumulative readings may indeed introduce new dependencies, but their availability is limited. I propose that non-distributive readings ‘underspecify’ dependencies, while distributive readings highlight specific dependencies, and its interaction with pronoun maximality blocks quantificational subordination against cumulative readings. I implement it with 'State-based Dynamic Plural Logic' which keeps track of 'quantificational alternatives'.

UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam)
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
Quality Education
Openalex Percentile: Top 44%
Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
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