Q-Adjectives and the Semantics of Quantity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22882012 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephanie Solt (0000-0002-3269-8461, Leibniz-Centre General Linguistics, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 221-273 |
| Publication date | 2015-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Semantics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-5133 • E-ISSN: 1477-4593 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jos/fft018 |
| OpenAlex | W2317581573 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 49 |
| References cited | 42 |
The adjectives of quantity (Q-adjectives) many, few, much and little stand out from other quantity expressions on account of their syntactic flexibility, occurring in positions that could be called quantificational (many students attended), predicative (John's friends were many), attributive (the many students), differential (much more than a liter) and adverbial (slept too much). This broad distribution poses a challenge for the two leading theories of this class, which treat them as either quantifying determiners or predicates over individuals. This article develops an analysis of Q-adjectives as gradable predicates of sets of degrees or (equivalently) gradable quantifiers over degrees. It is shown that this proposal allows a unified analysis of these items across the positions in which they occur, while also overcoming several issues facing competing accounts, among others the divergences between Q-adjectives and ‘ordinary’ adjectives, the operator-like behavior of few and little, and the use of much as a dummy element. Overall the findings point to the central role of degrees in the semantics of quantity.
Adjective · Adverbial · Attributive · Class (philosophy) · Linguistics · Noun · Predicative expression · Semantics (computer science) · Advanced Algebra and Logic · Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science · Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge · Mathematics · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
The most, the fewest and the least
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Referential transparency as the proper treatment for quantification
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Universals in superlative semantics
Expressive updates, much
Cognitive-discursive features of expressing the degree of comparison in Kazakh and French
On the interrogative terms ʔaddēʃ and kam in Syrian Arabic
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Monotonicity Revisited
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The anatomy of Chinese Superlative Modifiers
On reciprocal degree constructions
The expression of quantity in Oneida
Extravagant much? Syntactic creativity because Wayne’s World
Les superlatifs et la définitude en albanais
Counting, measuring, and the fractional cardinalities puzzle
Counting individuals and their halves
The many readings of many
A strengthened argument for realism about numbers
Different ways of deriving majority judgements
Issues in the grammar of Turkish comparatives
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The possessive morphosyntactic strategy of gradable predication in Taiwanese Southern Min and the measure function
Epistemic modality and comparison in Mandarin Chinese
The adjective dà in Taiwanese Mandarin
The internal syntax of Q-words
Non-agreeing degree constructions
Degrees as kinds
Decomposing same
There is only one más
One more comparative
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Strategic use of English quantifiers in the reporting of quantitative information
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Scope splitting in Syrian Arabic
Agreement Mismatch in Partitive Relatives
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The semantics ofmany, much, few, andlittle
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The Semantics of Degree
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The universal density of measurement
Degree Operators and Scope
Generalized quantifiers and natural language
Quantifier Scope
A unified analysis of the English bare plural
Severing the External Argument from its Verb
Plurality of Mass Nouns and the Notion of “Semantic Parameter”
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The Composition of Complex Cardinals
Comparing Semantic Theories of Comparison
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Plurality and Conjunction
Two kinds of modified numerals
Conjunctive interpretation of disjunction
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The interpretation of adjectival comparatives
The Interpretation of Functional Heads
Split Scope of Negative Indefinites
The Role of Dimensions in the Syntax of Noun Phrases
On the grammar and processing of proportional quantifiers
Focus and Weak Noun Phrases
E-Type Anaphora as NP-Deletion
Strange Relatives of the Third Kind
Bare and Not-So-Bare Nouns and the Structure of NP
The semantics of 'many' as a weak determiner
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Scale Structure, Degree Modification, and the Semantics of Gradable Predicates
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Reference to Kinds across Language
| Unique citing works | 49 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,45 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 40 |