Overview

Manifestations of Genericity offers a unified analysis of minimally contrasting generic sentences with indefinite singular (IS) and bare plural (BP) subjects - as in 'A bird flies' versus 'Birds fly' - within the framework of formal semantics. Beyond the classic distinction between quantificational and kind predication genericity, there is another important distinction in the generic domain, namely the distinction between two types of quantificational, modalized (I-) generalization: 'in virtue of' generalizations, expressed by both IS and BP sentences, and 'descriptive' generalizations, expressed by BP sentences alone. Thus 'A bird flies' asserts that the generalization is nonaccidentally true in virtue of some property, associated with the CN subject, whereas 'Birds fly' can also merely assert that the generalization is nonaccidentally true, with no implication of an 'in virtue of' property. Where previous theories have either assigned IS and BP sentences identical representations or two completely different (roughly quantificational and predicational) representations, this book treats both sentences as having the same basic quantificational-modalized structure - thus capturing the strong semantic similarities between them. Additionally, this study accounts for semantic differences by arguing that IS and BP sentences express different kinds of modality, and that the modalized Gen operator is restricted by a different accessibility relation in each case. When combined with independent semantic and pragmatic mechanisms, the difference in accessibility relations makes correct and precise predications as to a wide range of both old and newly observed semantic, pragmatic and distributional differences between IS and BP sentences. In this book, Yael Greenberg discusses and clarifies a number of controversial issues and phenomena in the generic literature, including the existence of 'episodic genericity', existential presuppositions and contextual restrictions of generics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Yael Greenberg
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.810kg
ISBN:  

9780415967778

ISBN 10:   0415967775
Pages:   350
Publication Date:   15 October 2003
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  General
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Comparing Sentences with Generically Interpreted Indefinite Singular (IS) and Bare Plural (BP) Subjects; Chapter 2 “In Virtue of” Generalizations, and the Semantics and Pragmatics of is Sentences; Chapter 3 “Descriptive” Generalizations, and the Semantics and Pragmatics of Descriptive BP Sentences; Chapter 4 Tolerance of Exceptional and Irrelevant Entities with is and Descriptive BP Sentences; Chapter 5 Temporally Restricted IS and BP Sentences; Chapter 6 Conclusion and Directions for Further Research;

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Author Information

Yael Greenberg teaches theoretical linguistics and formal semantics at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She received her Ph.D. in 2001, also at Bar-Ilan University. Her research interests include semantics, pragmatics, and syntax.

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