Universal quantification as degree modification in Arabic

Glossa

Peter Hallman¹ 

[1] University of Vienna;

关键词: superlative;    quantification;    Arabic;    degree;    plurals;   

DOI  :  10.5334/gjgl.131

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper demonstrates similarities between the universal quantifier 'kull '‘every/all’ and superlatives of quality and quantity in Standard Arabic. These similarities point to an analysis of 'kull 'as a kind of superlative. An analysis is developed that characterizes the meaning of 'kull 'as a minor variation on the meaning of the superlative morpheme that occurs in quality and quantity superlatives. The difference between 'kull'’s strongly distributive meaning analogous to 'every 'and its weakly distributive meaning analogous to 'all 'is argued to be the result of a type-shifting mechanism. This analysis teases apart the syntactic and semantic components of the three construction types examined here and identifies the uniformity that runs through them.

【 授权许可】

Unknown