Existentials, predication, and modification
Linguistics and Philosophy 32 (1):1-50 (2009)
| Abstract | This paper offers a new semantic theory of existentials (sentences of the form There be NP pivot XP coda ) in which pivots are (second order) predicates and codas are modifiers. The theory retains the analysis of pivots as denoting generalized quantifiers (Barwise and Cooper 1981; Keenan 1987), but departs from previous analyses in analyzing codas as contextual modifiers on a par with temporal/locative frame adverbials. Existing analyses universally assume that pivots are arguments of some predicate, and that codas are main or secondary predicates. It is shown that these analyses cannot account for the behavior of codas with quantifiers and for the interaction of multiple codas, both of which receive a simple treatment on the proposed theory. The assimilation of codas to frame adverbials explains several semantic properties which have not been analyzed in the semantic literature, and that distinguish existentials from their copular counterparts. Furthermore, it highlights important properties of the semantics of modification and its relation to predication. | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | ||||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,865 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesStephen K. McLeod (2011). First-Order Logic and Some Existential Sentences. Disputatio 4 (31):255-270.
Ron Artstein & Nissim Francez (2006). Plurality and Temporal Modification. Linguistics and Philosophy 29 (3):251 - 276.
Phil Corkum (forthcoming). Aristotle on Predication. European Journal of Philosophy.
Ingmar Pörn (1983). On the Logic of Adverbs. Studia Logica 42 (2-3):293 - 298.
Adrian Brasoveanu & Donka F. Farkas (2011). How Indefinites Choose Their Scope. Linguistics and Philosophy 34 (1):1-55.
Lenny Clapp (2009). The Problem of Negative Existentials Does Not Exist: A Case for Dynamic Semantics. Journal of Pragmatics 41 (7):1422-1434.
Alessandro Lenci (1998). The Structure of Predication. Synthese 114 (2):233-276.
Nikolaus Himmelmann & Eva Schultze-Berndt (eds.) (2005). Secondary Predication and Adverbial Modification: The Typology of Depictives. Oxford University Press.
Itamar Francez (2010). Context Dependence and Implicit Arguments in Existentials. Linguistics and Philosophy 33 (1):11-30.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2009-05-09Total downloads39 ( #30,423 of 556,774 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #64,754 of 556,774 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
