Quantifiers vs. Quantification Theory

The syntax and semantics of quantifiers is of crucial significance in current linguistic theorizing for more than one reason. The last statementof his grammatical theories by the late Richard Montague (1973) is modestly entitled 'The Proper Treatment of Quantification in Ordinary English'. In the authoritative statement of his 'Generative Semantics', George Lakoff (1971, especially pp. 238-267) uses as his first and foremost testing-ground the grammar of certain English quantifiers. In particular, they serve to illustrate, and show need of, his use of global constraints governing the derivation of English sentences. Evidence from the behavior of quantifiers (including numerical expressions) has likewise played a major role in recent discussions of such vital problemsas the alleged meaning-preservation of transformations, co-reference, the role of surface structure in semantical interpretation, and so on.