Formal Semantics Fall 2007Kinds continued – and where to Generalised Quantifiers come in?The two faces of the meaning of a nameReferent determined by social naming practice Mental file card with encyclopedic information about the assumed referent of the nameFrida KahloPainterMexicanMarried to Diego RiveraEtc.Referent: The real personwho was named “FridaKahlo”Mental ‘file card’: Has informationabout assumed referent ofthe name “Frida Kahlo”Are all words names for things in the world?“An expedient was therefore offered, that, since words are only names for things, it would be more convenient for all men to carry about them such things as were necessary to express a particular business they are to discourse on.” Words that do not stand for things in the world• Because, not, and, or, some, all, no, …..Common nouns• Might common nouns pick out things in the world, too?• If so, what could they pick out?What does wa t e r stand for?A proposal we’ve started to explore: reference to kinds• Suppose the noun water denotes the kind ‘water’.• Let us think of the kind ‘water’ as the sum of all the water there is. A scattered individual that is composed of all the actual water thereis, and nothing else. It contains all the puddles, streams, ponds, rivers, oceans as parts, and all the water in bottles and glasses, and even the tears in your eyes, ….Facts that fitOne drop of water Two glasses of water Three barrels of waterWater is H2OA fact that doesn’t seem to fit(1) My cat drank water.(1) doesn’t say that my cat drank all the water there is. The noun water is given a partitive interpretation in (1).The interpretation depends on the verb(1) My cat drank water.Partitive interpretation of object.(2) My cat fears water.Kind interpretation of object.A role for the verb?• If the verb determines whether a bare noun object can or cannot receive a partitive interpretation, maybe the verb is responsible for bringing about that interpretation in the first place!(1) Mon chat a bu de l’ eau. My cat has drunk of the water. My cat drank water.(2) Mon chat craint l’ eau. My cat fears the water. My cat fears water.Observation: In French, use of the partitive preposition de is obligatory for the partitive interpretation.Tsujimura:Sannin-no kodomo-ga uti-e kitaThree-GEN child-NOM house-to came.Three children came to my house.Taroo-ga sanmai-no kami-o katta.Taro-Nom three-Gen paper-Acc boughtTaro bought three sheets of paper.Hanako-ga sanbiki-no inu-ni esa-o yatta.Hanako-Nom three-Gen dog-Dat food-Acc gaveHanako gave three dogs food.Japanese counting wordsa. san-nin three (people)b. san-bon three (long and cylindrical objects)c. san-mai three (thin and flat objects)d. san-genthree (houses)e. san-satsu three (bound objects)f. san-biki three (animals like dogs, cats)Generalization:In Japanese, numerals cannot combine directly with any kind of noun: You always need a classifier. The classifier determines the unit that is being counted.* Hanako-ga san-no inu-ni esa-o yatta. Hanako-Nom three-Gen dog-Dat food-Acc gave Hanako gave three dogs food.* San-no kodomo-ga uti-e kita Three-GEN child-NOM house-to came. Three children came to my house.From Chierchia’s presentation:• if Japanese nouns denote kinds, we have an explanation for why classifiers are needed with numerals: Classifiers are necessary to specify smaller units for counting.What about English, then?• One zebra ? One milk• Two chairs ? Two oils• Three hats ? Three muds• Four houses ? Four snowsChierchia’s proposal: count singular nouns refer to sets of singularities, mass singular nouns refer to kindsAngelika Kratzer proposes:• The nouns we see in English consist of two morphemes.ZEBRA + [singular] ZEBRA + [plural]root zero-suffix root -sHypothesis:• Universally, the roots of common nouns refer to kinds.• Number inflection might modify the denotation of a root. Consequently, the English noun zebra might no longer refer to a kind.What would the root of the noun zebra stand for, for example?The sum of all the zebras there are, of course.English counting wordsA host of angels, a herd of elephants, a sheaf of arrows, a swarm of bees, a flock of birds, a deck of cards, a brood of chickens, a school of fish, a bunchof flowers, a troop of kangaroos, a leap of leopards, a pride of lions, a litter of pups, a bundle of rags, a field of runners, a flight of steps, a clump of trees, a pack of wolves, a gaggle of geese, a pod of seals, a cete of badgers…What is a kind, anyway?It is a proper name for a particular sort of individual – the totality individual.So, it’s like “John” or “Brown Hall”Back to mental file-cards: if a proper name makes us pick up a file-card, that’s an object, so we’re saying that proper names and kinds refer to objects: so, they are of type eBut in Generalised Quantifier Theory, type <et t>Which brings us to our next topic: