Feature GB204: Do collective ('all') and distributive ('every') universal quantifiers differ in their forms or their syntactic positions?

Patrons: Hannah J. Haynie

Description ⇫

Summary

This feature identifies languages that use different forms or syntactic positions for collective universal quantification (e.g. English all) versus distributive universal quantification (e.g. English every). This contrasts with languages that use both the same form and the same word order for these two types of quantification.

Procedure

  1. If the language uses different forms for collective universal quantification (‘all’) and distributive universal quantification (‘every’), code 1.
  2. If the language uses a single form for both collective and distributive universal quantifiers (i.e. one form means both ‘all’ and ‘every’), but they differ in terms of word order/syntactic position when expressing these different meanings, code 1.
  3. If the language uses a single form in the same syntactic position to express both collective and distributive universal quantification, code 0.
  4. If there is no mention of universal quantifiers at all, code ? and note that there is insufficient information to make a determination.

Examples

Cholón (ISO 639-3: cht, Glottolog: chol1284)

In Cholón, the meanings ‘all’ and ‘every’ are expressed by different forms: mek ‘all’ and nʸanmak ‘every’.

a. mek angel-a    espiritu-lʸ  če-kt-aŋ   
all angel-TOP  spirit-RST   3PL.S-be-INCMPL
‘As for all the angels, they are spirits only.’ (Alexander-Bakkerus 2005: 175)

b. nʸanmak hayu       i-tˢip-te            i-tˢotˢ   
every   Indian/man 3PL.POSS-house-ADESS 3PL.POSS-guinea.pig   
‘Every Indian has guinea pigs in his house.’ (Alexander-Bakkerus 2005: 175)

(Abbreviations: RST restrictive)

Both mek ‘all’ and nʸanmak ‘every’ can either precede or follow the noun (Alexander-Bakkerus 2005: 173–175). However, because the forms for these quantificational meanings are different, Cholón is coded 1.

Hausa States Fulfulde (ISO 639-3: fuv, Glottolog: nige1253)

In this language both the meaning ‘all’ and the meaning ‘every’ are expressed by the same marker (fuu). However, the marker precedes the noun when it is used for the meaning ‘every’ and follows the noun when it is used with the meaning ‘all’ (Arnott 1970: 147, 276, 282, 346). Hausa States Fulfulde is coded as 1 because even though the same marker is used for both meanings, its syntactic position differs for these two types of quantification.

Further reading

Bach, Elke, Eloise Jelinek, Angelika Kratzer & Barbara H. Partee (eds). 1995. Quantification in natural languages. (Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy 54). Dordrecht: Springer.

References

Alexander-Bakkerus, Astrid. 2005. Eighteenth-century Cholón. 120. Utrecht: Landelijke Onderzoekschool Taalwetenschap.

Arnott, David Whitehorn. 1970. The nominal and verbal systems of Fula. Oxford: Clarendon Press.


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0 absent 493
1 present 634
? Not known 1056
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Values ⇫

Name Glottocode Family Macroarea Contributor Value Source Comment