[PLing] Semantics Talk by Viola Schmitt on Wed. May, 4th, 16:30h

[Daniel Büring]

The Dpt. of Linguistics cordially invites you to a semantics talk the 
week after next:

     Viola Schmitt (Humboldt University, Berlin)
*    There is no evidence for world pluralities. Why?*

     Wed, May, 4th (be with you!), 16:30h, HS1, Sensengasse 3a, 1090 Wien



Abstract:
My first point will be to argue that worlds represent an exception to an 
otherwise apparently robust pattern, namely,
to the generalization that all semantic domains contain pluralities. 
More specifically, conditionals and construc-
tions involving neg-raising predicates have been discussed in the 
literature as candidates for configurations that
might involve world-pluralities, as they exhibit two traits also 
connected with definite plurals: homogeneity and
non-maximality. However, I show that they lack core traits of 
pluralities witnessed for all other domains, namely,
cumulativity and the ability to be targeted by a certain class of 
quantifiers. In the second part of the talk, I probe
an explanation for this gap – partially building on previous claims in 
the literature, I try to link the use of worlds in
these constructions to the use of degrees in constructions with gradable 
predicates that relate to non-additive scales.
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