Speaker: Brian Buccola (McGill University)
Time: Wednesday, October 8, 3:30-5pm (note exceptional time!)
Location: 32-D461
Title: Global semantic constraints: the case of van Benthem’s problem
Any adjectival theory of numeral modifiers faces a challenge known as
van Benthem’s problem (van Benthem, 1986), whereby non-upward-monotone
quantifiers like “fewer than three” give rise to inadequate truth conditions. I
propose a novel solution based on general economy principles for LF
availability: certain LFs are generated by the grammar but unavailable
(blocked) by virtue of (i) their semantic equivalence to LFs of syntactically
simpler sentences, and (ii) the simultaneous availability of other, non-trivial
LFs. The equivalence check is shown to rely crucially on the
distributivity-collectivity properties of the predicates, in particular on
whether the predicates distribute to at least some (not necessarily every)
subpart (not necessarily atomic). The proposal therefore makes strong
predictions regarding the interpretations of sentences with negative (and
other) quantifiers and various predicates along the distributive-collective
spectrum, which I show are borne out.