On the Interpretations of Bare PIurals with Individual- and Stage-Level Predicates
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1998
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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Thesis (B.A.)
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en_US
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Abstract
The distinction between stage- and individual-level predicates has proven useful to
a number of successful theories regarding the interpretations of sentences with bare
plural subjects. A series of related theories by Greg Carlson, Angelika Kratzer, Molly
Diesing and Ted Fernald are reviewed and evaluated. New modifications to Diesing's
theory are presented and are shown to improve the handling of time semantics, allow a simple account of Spanish copular variation and make the mechanics of the model more explicit and simple. Under this new theory, stage-level predicates are functions of an entity and a spatiotemporal variable whereas individual-level predicates are only
functions of an entity. Inflection is given logical form to complete the mechanics of
this new theory. Finally, the determination of whether a predicate is an stage-level
or individual-level cannot be done mathematically; rather, the type of a predicate is
determined pragmatically.