Handbook of Quantifiers in Natural Language

✍ Scribed by Edward L. Keenan (auth.), Edward L. Keenan, Denis Paperno (eds.)

• Publisher: Springer Netherlands
• Year: 2012
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 973
• Series: Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 90
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Covering a strikingly diverse range of languages from 12 linguistic families, this handbook is based on responses to a questionnaire constructed by the editors. Focusing on the formation, distribution and semantic interpretation of quantificational expressions, the book explores 17 languages including German, Italian, Russian, Mandarin Chinese, Malagasy, Hebrew, Pima, Basque, and more. The language data sets enable detailed crosslinguistic comparison of numerous features. These include semantic classes of quantifiers (generalized existential, generalized universal, proportional, partitive), syntactically complex quantifiers (intensive modification, Boolean compounding, exception phrases) and several others such as quantifier scope ambiguities, quantifier float, and binary quantifiers. Its theory-independent content extends earlier work by Matthewson (2008) and Bach et al. (1995), making this handbook suitable for linguists, semanticians, philosophers of language and logicians alike.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xii
The Quantifier Questionnaire....Pages 1-20
Quantifiers in Adyghe....Pages 21-82
Quantification in Basque....Pages 83-164
Garifuna Quantification....Pages 165-225
Quantification in German....Pages 227-283
The Landscape of Greek Quantifiers....Pages 285-346
Quantifiers in Modern Hebrew....Pages 347-397
Quantification in Hungarian....Pages 399-465
Quantifiers in Italian....Pages 467-534
Quantity Expressions in Japanese....Pages 535-612
Malagasy Quantifiers*....Pages 613-645
Taiwan Mandarin Quantifiers....Pages 647-698
Pima Quantifiers....Pages 699-727
Quantification in Standard Russian....Pages 729-779
Quantification in Telugu....Pages 781-843
Quantification in Western Armenian....Pages 845-890
Wolof Quantifiers....Pages 891-939
Overview....Pages 941-949
Back Matter....Pages 951-970

✦ Subjects

Semantics; Philosophy of Language; Syntax