Champollion, Lucas. 2014. "Covert distributivity in algebraic event semantics"


[Full paper on lingbuzz]


Abstract:  I suggest that distributivity operators are parametric on thematic roles and, in certain cases, on salient predicates such as covers. I suggest two divisions of labor, one between meaning postulates and distributivity operators and the other between semantics and pragmatics, that account for the limited availability of nonatomic distributivity. This is an advantage over theories in which nonatomic distributivity is freely available, those in which it is not available at all, and those where its availability does not depend on the difference between lexical and phrasal distributivity. I extend this account to the temporal domain, where it predicts the limited availability of indefinites to covary in the scope of for-adverbials. This surpasses theories that predict such indefinites are predicted to always covary and those that predict them to never covary. I reformulate distributivity operators in algebraic event semantics in a way that makes the sum event available for further modification by arguments and adjuncts, which was not the case in previous implementations. (This is one of two self-contained papers that can be read individually but that form a coherent whole. The title of the other paper is "Overt distributivity in algebraic event semantics.")

Keywords:  distributivity, algebraic semantics, covers, leakage, for-adverbials

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