• Language and Information
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.75-86
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• 2001

Generic sentences assert generic properties of single individuals or those of plural individuals. It means the generic quantifier Gen can quantify over single and plural entities. Among the generic meaning information represented in terms of the tripartite structure, the information not in the nuclear scope part, but rather in the restrictor part is related to which individuals generic sentences assert of. The plurality in the nuclear scope part cannot be described by making the generic operator Gen quantify over plural entities: Generic sentences with collective predicates like gather, and those with dependent plurals predicate of generic properties of single individuals. On the contrary, the plural information in restrictor part leads Gen to quantify eve. plural entities.

• Language and Information
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.77-93
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• 2008

This paper examines a condition that licenses distributivity. Choe (1987) and Link (1998) have proposed an indefiniteness condition on distributivity. However, detecting counter-examples, Zimmermann (2002) has argued for a non-specificity condition. This paper primarily revises the indefiniteness/non-specificity condition. Observing that the systematic class of the exceptions belongs to weak definites proposed by Poesio (1994), I claim that the property that constrains distributivity is non-strong-definiteness. Based on Landman (2000), I further explain the non-strong-definiteness condition and argue that the condition does not need to be imposed on the grammar independently. The new condition naturally accounts for Spector's (2003) scopal asymmetry. Even more, defining donkey pronouns as weak definites, I cope with various properties of donkey sentences.