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Conclusion

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The Grammar of French Quantification

Part of the book series: Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory ((SNLT,volume 83))

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Abstract

In this book, I have shown that apparent scope/lexical ambiguities are dependant on the utterance context and can be (partially) resolved via intonation in French. One of the results reached is the correlation between syntactic positions and semantic denotations, corroborating recent works on the matter (Ihsane 2008, a.o) and suggesting strict syntax-semantics mapping. In addition to semantics and syntax, prosody is taken as a diagnostic discriminating specificity from partitivity and non-presupposition with wh-phrases in-situ and existential un Ns (∃Qs). Prosody does not play a role in the existential interpretation of ∀Qs and N-words, which discriminate their existential meaning lexically.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Yet, Chapter 5, Section 5.1.2.4 shows that there might be minimal differences, notably with combien (de N) extractions.

  2. 2.

    I would like to thank Marcel den Dikken more particularly for discussing this issue with me.

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  1. Department of Linguistics, University of Geneva, 5, rue de Candolle, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland

    Lena Baunaz

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Baunaz, L. (2011). Conclusion. In: The Grammar of French Quantification. Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, vol 83. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0621-7_6

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