Evidence for a generalized quantifier semantics in the interpretation of German weak personal pronouns—a response to Elbourne (2021)

Bibliographic Data

ID14870831
AuthorsBeck (0000-0002-1077-4048, University of Tübingen, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume33
Issue3
Pages407-432
Publication date2025-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueNatural Language Semantics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0925-854X • E-ISSN: 1572-865X
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s11050-025-09236-9
OpenAlexW4412407583
LanguageEN
References cited21

This paper is a response to Elbourne’s (Natural Language Semantics 29:579–600, 2021) observation that pronouns can take on the semantics of a quantifier in English. I refer to the pronouns discovered by Elbourne as Q-type pronouns. I provide comparable data from German and extract constraints on when the phenomenon can occur by way of crosslinguistic comparison. A further development of Elbourne’s analysis of Q-type pronouns is proposed by formalizing the notion of “anaphoric sentence”. Anaphoric sentences are marked as Given in a strong sense and require an antecedent in the immediate context (cf. Krifka in Acta Linguistica Hungarica 55(3–4):243–276, 2008). An operator § is defined that occurs in anaphoric sentences and enforces these requirements at the syntax/semantics/pragmatics interface. The constraints on Q-type pronouns are captured in terms of them having to occur in anaphoric sentences

Epistemology · German · Linguistics · Metaphysics · Personal pronoun · Philosophy of language · Programming language · Relative clause · Syntax · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis and Cultural Communication · Linguistic research and analysis · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity · Mathematics · Philosophy

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