Questions tagged [quantifiers]
The quantifiers tag has no usage guidance.
20 questions
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Does Swedish "varje" have both distributive and collective readings?
"Varje" is often translated as "each" or "every" in English. However, "each" and "every" have different uses in regard to collectivity/distributivity....
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Are there any natural languages that have one or more morphemes that each stand for both "other(s)" and "more"?
I've been working on the quantifiers for a conlang of mine and noticed that the concepts "other" and "more" are each related to the notion of additional quantities. So, we have ...
- 8,780
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Semantics- predicate calculus and quantifiers
I have a sentence of "No A is B" (No child is sad)
I been given 2 formulas:
¬∃x[C(x) ⋀ S(x)]
∀x[C(x) →¬ S(x)]
I needed to show that they are the same by deriving the truth conditions.
I got ...
- 11
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0
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Are there four potential readings in the examples?
I read that Fiengo & May (1994: 115-117) points out that through the analysis of strict and sloppy readings in elliptical environments, it has shed light not only on more general notions of ...
- 643
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1
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Why and how is the following sentence erroneous?
I am studying error analysis.
why is the following sentence erroneous?
*Last night I was very tired that I couldn't study.
Is there an error in this sentence? The only option I can think of is Wrong ...
- 1
0
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0
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40
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Is there a category for phrases like "all the time" where any competent speaker of the language is expected to know the domain restriction?
If someone says "I go to the theater all the time" we know implicitly that this means "a lot" and is not meant to claim that literally "For all times t, I am going to the ...
- 113
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0
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Is there a standard accepted definition of in-situ quantification, and if so what is it?
I'm reading a paper that references Montague being focused on in-situ quantification. I'm not a linguist, so apologies for the naivety, but how does this differ from what is being called bounded ...
1
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1
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128
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Are these generalized quantifiers correct?
According to Kearns (2011), I know that "the ten apples are bruised" can be interpreted as "‘The ten apples are bruised’ is true if and only if |A ∩ B| = 10."
But how about this ...
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1
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How is the 什么...都 (shénme ... dou) construction in Standard Chinese usually analyzed?
Disclaimer: I am assuming that the example sentences listed here have been vetted by a native speaker, but since I'm not totally sure of this, I'll use a leading @ sign to show my uncertainty. If I am ...
- 1,366
2
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1
answer
535
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Floating quantifiers in X-bar theory: "the men all have gone"
In chapter 9 of Syntax: A generative Introduction (2nd ed), Carnie shows that we can solve some problems by generating subjects in Spec of VP and letting them move to Spec of TP. In the first ...
- 4,840
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1
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'some students,' 'many students' etc. in logical formula
'John met the student' would translate as:
(∃x student(x) ⋀ (∀y (student(y) → y = x)) ⋀ met(j,x))
where, j stands for John.
We have the existential quantifier and the universal quantifier; hence, ...
- 271
3
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2
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499
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Is the indefinite article a quantifier?
This may sound like a stupid query, but:
Is the indefinite article, a(n), a quantifier?
To this date, I've regarded it as a quantifier because, while it is an article, it quantifies an NP to ...
- 271
1
vote
2
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98
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Constraints on quantification in syntactic structures
Quantifiers have the ability to be stranded wherever the landing sites of its adjoined DPs are, as shown in (1).
(1)
a. All the stackexchange posts might be deleted.
b. The stackexchange posts might ...
0
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0
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150
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Two meanings of "Someone believes everyone to be invited"
Carnie claims in his syntax book that the sentence
Someone believes everyone to be invited
has two meanings. I can see only one (when the existential quantifier has scope over universal one: when ...
user31981
3
votes
1
answer
220
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Solving type mismatch
I am doing a semantic derivation of the following sentence:
Cathy and Fred drank three coffees.
I know the types of each individual component but when trying to work towards t, I find a type ...
- 105
2
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0
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94
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Misunderstanding quantifier floats
I'm reading Core Syntax by Adger and there is an exercise to analyze the following data.
*The dragons were slain all.
*The Greeks arrived all.
Now I know the phenomena of floating quantifiers comes ...
- 169
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2
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435
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Is there such a thing as a "floating preposition"?
Floating quantifiers are quantifiers that can move away from the corresponding noun, such as "each" in "The boys hit each other" where it modifies "The boys". I am interested in prepositions in these ...
- 4,840
2
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0
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121
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Is there a meaning difference between "each" and "every" as NP modifier?
I have an ineffable feeling that there is a pragmatic difference between "each N" and "every N", which has to do with evaluating the individuals denoted by "each N" one at a time, vs. evaluating them ...
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5
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quantifiers adjoining a verb phrase?
I am working through Heim and Kratzer textbook 'Semantics in generative grammar' and there is a question in it that keeps puzzling me (pp.220);
they give an example of a sentence which is supposed ...
- 51
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2
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366
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Scopal relation of negation and quantifier
What is the exact meaning of scope?
In the following sentence, what is the scopal relation of negation and quantifier?
And how could I know if there is a wide or narrow scope between them?
She ...
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