Non-conservative construals with percentage quantifiers in Slavic

Authors

  • Marcin Wągiel
  • Berit Gehrke Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

Keywords:

conservativity, proportional quantifier, percentage quantifier, word order, information structure, non-conservativity

Abstract

The paper investigates non-conservative, as opposed to conservative, interpretations of sentences with percentage quantifiers corresponding to ‘fifty percent’ in Slavic. Based on the results of a questionnaire study in Slavic languages with (Bulgarian and Macedonian) and without definiteness marking (BCMS, Czech, Polish, Russian, Slovak, and Slovenian), we make the novel observation that word order is a main and sometimes the only means to distinguish between conservative and non-conservative readings. We argue that for the non-conservative reading to arise the percentage quantifier has to appear in a low position, VP-internally, in order to be part of the predicate and to take the VP’s extension as its first argument.

Downloads

Published

2023-11-20

How to Cite

Wągiel, M., and B. Gehrke. “Non-Conservative Construals With Percentage Quantifiers in Slavic”. Journal of Slavic Linguistics, vol. 31, no. FASL 30 issue, Nov. 2023, pp. 1-20, http://ojs.ung.si/index.php/JSL/article/view/181.

Issue

Section

FASL proceedings 2021