Quantification

by Matthewson, Lisa

• ISBN13: 9780080453507
• ISBN10: 0080453503
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-05-09
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub

Summary

This volume presents articles by formal linguists on quantification in (relatively) understudied languages. The ten contributions provide analysis of quantificational phenomena in languages from nine different families: Eskimo-Aleut, Algonquian, Na-Dene, Austronesian, Basque, Quechua, Otomanguean, Bantu, and Chadic. Approximately half of the papers present systematic overviews of quantificational phenomena in the respective languages; the remainder of the papers present theoretical analyses of specific quantificational constructions. The cross-linguistic focus of this volume enables standard theories of quantification to be challenged by languages other than those for which they were originally designed. The volume as a whole also uncovers a number of cross-linguistically common properties in the realm of quantification. The research presented here forms part of a growing trend towards formal study of understudied languages. This is a process which will ultimately lead us to a greatly enriched understanding of the universal human language faculty. The authors are all experts on their respective languages, most with many years field experience. All the authors have theoretical expertise in the area of quantification. This book will be of interest to semanticists and syntacticians working on quantification, to specialists in the languages discussed, and to semantic and syntactic fieldworkers. * This volume presents articles on quantification in (relatively) understudied languages * The authors are all experts on their respective languages

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Quantification as reference: Evidence from Q-verbs	p. 7
Quantification in Passamaquoddy	p. 67
Q-particles and the nature of wh-fronting	p. 105
Possessors and definiteness effects in two Austronesian languages	p. 179
On Basque quantification and on how some languages restrict their quantificational domain overtly	p. 225
Cuzco Quechua Quantifiers	p. 277
Quantification in Malagasy	p. 319
On the absence of quantificational determiners in San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec	p. 353
Quantification across Bantu languages	p. 383
Quantification in Hausa	p. 415
Name Index	p. 477
Language Index	p. 483
Subject Index	p. 485
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.