On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in
Slavic and German

J 2023

On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in Slavic and German

GEHRKE, Berit and Marcin WĄGIEL

Basic information

Original name

On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in Slavic and German

Authors

GEHRKE, Berit (276 Germany) and Marcin WĄGIEL (616 Poland, guarantor, belonging to the institution)

Edition

GLOSSA-A JOURNAL OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS, ENGLAND, UBIQUITY PRESS LTD, 2023, 2397-1835

Other information

Language

English

Type of outcome

Article in a journal

Field of Study

60203 Linguistics

Country of publisher

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Confidentiality degree

is not subject to a state or trade secret

References:

Plný text výsledku na webových stránkách časopisu

Impact factor

Impact factor: 0.900

RIV identification code

RIV/00216224:14210/23:00134044

Organization unit

Faculty of Arts

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803

UT WoS

000993919600003

EID Scopus

2-s2.0-85147411310

Keywords in English

conservativity; percentage quantifier; information structure; word order; relative measurement; proportion

Abstract

In the original language

This paper discusses conservative and non-conservative construals of percentage quantifiers (%Qs), e.g., 50% of the women vs. 50% women, in Slavic and German. Based on data from corpora and cross-linguistic questionnaires, we make the novel empirical generalization that word order plays a crucial role in distinguishing between these two readings, irrespective of whether there is an additional difference between definite vs. bare nominals (German, Bulgarian, Macedonian) or not (the other Slavic languages). Specifically, non-conservative %Qs appear low in the structure, inside the VP, whereas conservative %Qs either appear in their canonical position, depending on their syntactic role as subject or object (German, Bulgarian), or high/VP-externally (the other Slavic languages). We propose that non-conservative %Qs are always interpreted low and combine with the predicate on a par with semantically incorporated nominals and, with intransitves, existential constructions. We argue against previous accounts that ascribe a crucial role to focus for the non-conservative reading to arise, in taking focus to merely be derivative from the requirement of non-conservative %Qs to appear low, paired with a general rule for sentential stress placement.

Links

GA20-16107S, research and development project

Name: Struktury část-celek napříč jazyky

Investor: Czech Science Foundation

Cite

GEHRKE, Berit and Marcin WĄGIEL. On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in Slavic and German. GLOSSA-A JOURNAL OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS. ENGLAND: UBIQUITY PRESS LTD, 2023, vol. 8, No 1, p. 1-48. ISSN 2397-1835. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803.

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   author = {Gehrke, Berit and Wągiel, Marcin},
   article_location = {ENGLAND},
   article_number = {1},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803},
   keywords = {conservativity; percentage quantifier; information structure; word order; relative measurement; proportion},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {2397-1835},
   journal = {GLOSSA-A JOURNAL OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS},
   title = {On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in Slavic and German},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803},
   volume = {8},
   year = {2023}
}

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PY  - 2023
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JF  - GLOSSA-A JOURNAL OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS
VL  - 8
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PB  - UBIQUITY PRESS LTD
SN  - 23971835
KW  - conservativity
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KW  - information structure
KW  - word order
KW  - relative measurement
KW  - proportion
UR  - https://doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803
N2  - This paper discusses conservative and non-conservative construals of percentage quantifiers (%Qs), e.g., 50% of the women vs. 50% women, in Slavic and German. Based on data from corpora and cross-linguistic questionnaires, we make the novel empirical generalization that word order plays a crucial role in distinguishing between these two readings, irrespective of whether there is an additional difference between definite vs. bare nominals (German, Bulgarian, Macedonian) or not (the other Slavic languages). Specifically, non-conservative %Qs appear low in the structure, inside the VP, whereas conservative %Qs either appear in their canonical position, depending on their syntactic role as subject or object (German, Bulgarian), or high/VP-externally (the other Slavic languages). We propose that non-conservative %Qs are always interpreted low and combine with the predicate on a par with semantically incorporated nominals and, with intransitves, existential constructions. We argue against previous accounts that ascribe a crucial role to focus for the non-conservative reading to arise, in taking focus to merely be derivative from the requirement of non-conservative %Qs to appear low, paired with a general rule for sentential stress placement.
ER  -

GEHRKE, Berit and Marcin WĄGIEL. On word order and non-conservative percentage quantification in Slavic and German. \textit{GLOSSA-A JOURNAL OF GENERAL LINGUISTICS}. ENGLAND: UBIQUITY PRESS LTD, 2023, vol.~8, No~1, p.~1-48. ISSN~2397-1835. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.16995/glossa.5803.

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