Quantifier Float does not Affect Semantic Scope: An Experimental Investigation
Eman Al-Khalaf
February 2018
 

This paper reports on an experimental study of semantic scope in the context of quantifier float (Q-float) in Arabic. The results of an off-line acceptability judgment task (n = 31) indicate that Q-float does not affect quantifier scope with respect to negation, and reveal that the scope of floating quantifiers is not restricted to their surface structure, contra much work (e.g., Dowty and Brodie 1984; Bobaljik 2003, Payne 2011) which primarily derived its evidence from Indo-European languages. The study leads to the conclusion that recent correlation between Q-float and Q-raising is not correct (e.g., Jenks 2013), and that some other analysis of Q-float needs to be proposed.
Format: [ pdf ]
Reference: lingbuzz/003864
(please use that when you cite this article)
Published in: under review
keywords: quantifier float, semantic scope, arabic, experiment, semantics, syntax
previous versions: v1 [December 2017]
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