14.1743, Qs: Eng 'every' and anaphora

LINGUIST List linguist at linguistlist.org
Fri Jun 20 03:17:23 UTC 2003


LINGUIST List:  Vol-14-1743. Thu Jun 19 2003. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 14.1743, Qs: Eng 'every' and anaphora

Moderators: Anthony Aristar, Wayne State U.<aristar at linguistlist.org>
            Helen Dry, Eastern Michigan U. <hdry at linguistlist.org>

Reviews (reviews at linguistlist.org):
	Simin Karimi, U. of Arizona
	Terence Langendoen, U. of Arizona

Home Page:  http://linguistlist.org/

The LINGUIST List is funded by Eastern Michigan University, Wayne
State University, and donations from subscribers and publishers.

Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <fox at linguistlist.org>
 ==========================================================================
We'd like to remind readers that the responses to queries are usually
best posted to the individual asking the question. That individual is
then strongly encouraged to post a summary to the list. This policy was
instituted to help control the huge volume of mail on LINGUIST; so we
would appreciate your cooperating with it whenever it seems appropriate.

In addition to posting a summary, we'd like to remind people that it
is usually a good idea to personally thank those individuals who have
taken the trouble to respond to the query.

To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at
http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.html.

=================================Directory=================================

1)
Date:  Thu, 19 Jun 2003 13:33:36 +0000
From:  Norihiro Ogata <norry at tcct.zaq.ne.jp>
Subject:  On anaphoras to "every"

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 19 Jun 2003 13:33:36 +0000
From:  Norihiro Ogata <norry at tcct.zaq.ne.jp>
Subject:  On anaphoras to "every"

Dear all,

I'm a formal semanticist and now I'm interested in the semantics of
generics.  In the progress of this research, I could have find the
following examples which show the anaphoras to ''every''+N:

(1) Every rice-grower_i in Korea owns a wooden cart. Usually he_i gets
(it from his father.  2) Every Swiss male_i must do military
(service. He_i is required to do so by law.

On the other hand, I was concentrated to G. Carlson's ''unbound''
reading of ''every'' as follows:

(3) Every friend of John smokes.
(4) A master craftsman builds every house in this area.

(3-4) are ambiguous bewteen `universally quantified reading' and
`unbound reading'.  In the unbound reading, the genericisty is
stronger and the domain of quantification is ''unbound'', i.e., past,
present, future, ideal worlds, etc.

Then I found some sort of similarity of unbound reading ''every'' with
''every'' which have its anaphora, and I asked to some native English
speakers if the following sentences are meaningful:

(5) Every fried of John smokes. (Usually) she also drugs.
(6) A master (craftsman builds every house in this area. (Usually) it
is very (small.

The answers were all ''no''.

I can agree this result when I think about the following example: (7)
Every farmer who owns a donkey beats it. *He is a sadist.

However, even (1)-(2), they rejected.

So I was confusing and, on the other hand, the both phenomena can be
related if (5)-(6) or more appropriate examples were acceptable.

So, I would like to ask to every English native speaker or linguists
of English if (5)-(6) or similar and more appropriate examples are
acceptable.

Please send the answer to
  norry at tcct.zaq.ne.jp

Best regards,

Norihiro Ogata
Faculty of Language and Culture, Osaka University

Subject-Language: English; Code: ENG

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINGUIST List: Vol-14-1743



More information about the LINGUIST mailing list