Manifestations of Genericity

ISBN-13: 9780415967778 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 350 str.

Yael Greenberg;Yael Greenberg

Opis

Manifestations of Genericity offers a unified analysis of minimally contrasting generic sentences with indefinite singular (IS) and bare plural (BP) subjects - as in A bird flies versus Birds fly - within the framework of formal semantics. Beyond the classic distinction between quantificational and kind predication genericity, there is another important distinction in the generic domain, namely the distinction between two types of quantificational, modalized (I-) generalization: in virtue of generalizations, expressed by both IS and BP sentences, and descriptive generalizations, expressed by BP sentences alone. Thus A bird flies asserts that the generalization is nonaccidentally true in virtue of some property, associated with the CN subject, whereas Birds fly can also merely assert that the generalization is nonaccidentally true, with no implication of an in virtue of property.

Spis treści

Chapter 1 Comparing Sentences with Generically Interpreted Indefinite Singular (IS) and Bare Plural (BP) Subjects; Chapter 2 “In Virtue of” Generalizations, and the Semantics and Pragmatics of is Sentences; Chapter 3 “Descriptive” Generalizations, and the Semantics and Pragmatics of Descriptive BP Sentences; Chapter 4 Tolerance of Exceptional and Irrelevant Entities with is and Descriptive BP Sentences; Chapter 5 Temporally Restricted IS and BP Sentences; Chapter 6 Conclusion and Directions for Further Research;

O autorze

Yael Greenberg teaches theoretical linguistics and formal semantics at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She received her Ph.D. in 2001, also at Bar-Ilan University. Her research interests include semantics, pragmatics, and syntax.