Abstract
A semantics with plural entitles and plural times accounts for cumulative relations between plural arguments and temporal expressions. The semantics equips nominal, verbal and sentential meanings with temporal context variables and treats temporal modifiers as temporal generalized quantifiers; cumulative conjunction, however, takes place at types lower than generalized quantifiers. The mediation of temporal context variables allows cumulative relations to percolate between an argument in a main clause and one in a temporal clause, in apparent violation of locality restrictions. Plural times form a semilattice structure imposed on the set of intervals; no interaction is observed between this and the internal temporal structure of intervals.
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This is an extended version of a paper presented at the 14th Amsterdam Colloquium (Artstein and Francez 2003).
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Artstein, R., Francez, N. Plurality and Temporal Modification. Linguistics & Philosophy 29, 251–276 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-006-0004-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10988-006-0004-1