Donkey Anaphora in Non-Monotonic Environments. (6th June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Denić, Milica; Sudo, Yasutada
• Is Part Of: Journal of semantics. Volume 39:Number 3(2022)
• Page Start: 443
• Page End: 474
• Publication Date: 2022-06-06
• Subjects: Semantics -- Periodicals; Semantik; Semantics; Periodicals; 401.43
• DOI: 10.1093/jos/ffac005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0167-5133

Abstract

Abstract: Donkey anaphora in quantified sentences is ambiguous between an existential and a universal reading. The extent to which different readings are accessible depends on the quantifier, but how to model this dependence is debated (Kanazawa, 1994 ; Champollion et al. 2019 ). This study advances this debate by providing novel experimental data on the interpretation of donkey anaphora in sentences with non-monotonic quantifiers exactly 3 and all but one . We establish that while the existential reading of donkey anaphora is the preferred one with both exactly 3 and all but one, the universal reading is accessed more with all but one than with exactly 3 . These results have important implications for both Kanazawa (1994) and Champollion et al. (2019) theories, as both need to be amended to fully capture the empirical picture.