Why "a few" and why not *"a many"?

Authors

  • Stephanie Solt

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.44.2006.321

Abstract

The expressions few and a few are typically considered to be separate quantifiers. I challenge this assumption, showing that with the appropriate definition of few, a few can be derived compositionally as a + few. The core of the analysis is a proposal that few has a denotation as a one-place predicate which incorporates a negation operator. From this, argument interpretations can be derived for expressions such as few students and a few students, differing only in the scope of negation. I show that this approach adequately captures the interpretive differences between few and a few. I further show that other such pairs are blocked by a constraint against the vacuous application of a.

 

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Published

2006

How to Cite

Solt, Stephanie. 2006. “Why "a Few" and Why Not *‘a many’?”. ZAS Papers in Linguistics 44 (2):333-46. https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.44.2006.321.