LINGUIST List 23.4110|
Wed Oct 03 2012
Confs: Pragmatics, Semantics/Germany
Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang
From: Yaron McNabb <yaron.mcnabbuni-konstanz.de>
Subject: Much Ado about Much: Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Quantity Expressions
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Much Ado about Much: Workshop on the Semantics and Pragmatics of Quantity Expressions
Date: 12-Oct-2012 - 13-Oct-2012
Location: Konstanz, Germany
Contact: Yaron McNabb
Contact Email: < click here to access email >
Meeting URL: http://cms.uni-konstanz.de/ling/quantoren/events/much-ado-about-much-the-semantics-and-pragmatics-of-quantity-expressions/
Linguistic Field(s): Pragmatics; Semantics
In this workshop, we set out to discuss the semantics and pragmatics of quantity expressions, such as ‘much’, ‘many’, ‘little’, and their comparative (‘more’, ‘less’) and superlative (‘most’, ‘least’) counterparts. We are interested in theoretical and experimental investigations that address questions such as:
- Should the analysis of the various quantity expressions be stated in a uniform way or does each expression require a distinct analysis?
- What is the basic meaning of ‘positive’ quantity expressions (‘much’, ‘many’, ‘little’, ‘few’) and how do they relate to each other?
- Is the meaning of the comparative and superlative expressions derived from their ‘positive’ counterparts?
- How can we derive the differences in implications and inferences that the various expressions carry?
- What is the source of ‘epistemic effects’ and ‘ignorance references’ in some quantity expressions, especially in superlative quantifiers—is it semantic (lexical) or pragmatic?
Friday, 12 October (Room Y 310)
Gathering, coffee and opening remarks
Bernhard Schwarz (McGill University)
'On calculating ignorance implications with superlative modifiers'
Clemens Mayr (ZAS Berlin)
'Modified numerals differ sometimes but not always'
Rick Nouwen (Universiteit Utrecht)
'What's the worst that can happen?'
Stephanie Solt (Universiteit van Amsterdam/ZAS Berlin)
'Observations on much as an NPI'
Saturday, 13 October (Room Y 132)
Alexis Wellwood (University of Maryland, College Park)
'A matter of degrees: Composing cross-categorial comparatives'
Chris Cummins (Universität Bielefeld)
'Using embedded quantifiers'
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