Existence: Semantics and Syntax

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vii

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2. The Interpretation Of The Copula

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 11-11

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3. The Interpretation of the Copula

   1. Towards a Dynamic Account of BE in English

      • Ronnie Cann

      Pages 13-48

   2. Constituent Questions and the Copula of Specification

      • Ileana Comorovski

      Pages 49-77

   3. Predication and Equation in Copular Sentences: Russian vs. English

      • Ljudmila Geist

      Pages 79-105

   4. On Davidsonian and Kimian States

      • Claudia Maienborn

      Pages 107-130

4. Existential Sentences Across Languages

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131

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   2. Focus and the Basic Function of Chinese Existential You-Sentences

      • Jianhua Hu, Haihua Pan

      Pages 133-145

   3. Existential Sentences, BE, and the Genitive of Negation in Russian

      • Barbara H. Partee, Vladimir Borschev

      Pages 147-190

   4. Negative Quantification and Existential Sentences

      • Lucia M. Tovena

      Pages 191-219

5. Existence And The Interpretation Of Noun Phrases

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 221-221

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6. Existence and the Interpretation of Noun Phrases

   1. Existence, Maximality, and the Semantics of Numeral Modifiers

      • Francis Corblin

      Pages 223-252

   2. Existential Import

      • Bart Geurts

      Pages 253-271

   3. Referentially Anchored Indefinites

      • Klaus von Heusinger

      Pages 273-292

   4. On Singular Existential Quantifiers in Italian

      • Roberto Zamparelli

      Pages 293-328

7. Back Matter

   Pages 329-332

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This collection of essays grew out of the workshop ‘Existence: Semantics and Syntax’, which was held at the University of Nancy 2 in September 2002. The workshop, organized by Ileana Comorovski and Claire Gardent, was supported by a grant from the Reseau ´ de Sciences Cognitives du Grand Est (‘Cognitive Science Network of the Greater East’), which is gratefully acknowledged. The ?rst e- tor wishes to thank Claire Gardent, Fred Landman, and Georges Rebuschi for encouraging her to pursue the publication of a volume based on papers presented at the workshop. Among those who participated in the workshop was Klaus von Heusinger, who joined Ileana Comorovski in editing this volume. Besides papers that developed out of presentations at the workshop, the volume contains invited contributions. We are grateful to Wayles Browne, Fred Landman, Paul Portner, and Georges Rebuschi for their help with reviewing some of the papers. Our thanks go also to a Springer reviewer for the careful reading of the book manuscript. We wish to thank all the participants in the workshop, not only those whose contributions appear in this volume, for making the workshop an int- active and constructive event. Ileana Comorovski Klaus von Heusinger vii ILEANA COMOROVSKI AND KLAUS VON HEUSINGER INTRODUCTION The notion of ‘existence’, which we take to have solid intuitive grounding, plays a central role in the interpretation of at least three types of linguistic constructions: copular clauses, existential sentences, and (in)de?nite noun phrases.

• English
• Index
• Modus
• Negation
• Syntax
• comparative
• genitive
• interaction
• language
• noun phrases
• quantifiers
• semantic
• semantics
• singular
• syntactic

From the reviews: "...the volume presents a number of novel, thought-provoking proposals and makes for worthwhile reading." (Itamar Francez and Louise McNally, The Journal of Linguistics, volume 46, 2010)

• Université Nancy 2/CNRS, Nancy, France

  Ileana Comorovski

• Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

  Klaus Heusinger

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