Chris Tancredi
University of Tokyo
In this talk, I examine several basic properties of the Japanese wh-mo construction,
whose closest English counterparts are wh-ever expressions. Based mostly on
interaction with adverbs of quantification, I argue that these expressions should
not be analyzed as inherently quantificational. I suggest that they should instead
be given an analysis which is closer to that typically assumed for plural expressions.
Wh-mo expressions lack many of the core properties of plurals, however, including
cumulative readings, group responsibility readings and others. This suggests
that they need to be differentiated from plurals as well as from quantifiers.
I will give an analysis which makes use of much of the machinery employed for
plural interpretation but which locates the interpretation of these expressions
between plural interpretation and singular interpretation.
If you are interested in
meeting with the speaker, please contact Kaori
Ozawa.
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