Are Distrubutivity and Quantifier Scope Dependent?

Abstract

Distributivity and quantifier scope are ubiquitous in the natural languages. However, it is unclear whether they are in common or not. It is not easy to make a conclusion which is more valid between the two positions, because each position is firmly based on validity due to its own theory-internal backgrounds. In this regard, in order to discover whether they are dependent or not, It is believed that it might be useful to refer to the findings of linguistics and experimental psychology. Therefore, with reference to cognitive conceptual structures on Langacker (1987, 1991) and distributivity by Gil (1982), this paper aims to prove that distributivity and quantifier scope are not independent, but dependent. In order to do this, what the conceptual structures of a nominal, a replicated mass and a replicated process are investigated in section 2, helpful and necessary to understand the conceptual structures of quantifier scope. Then the cognitive conceptual structures of quantificational interactions and quantifier scope are examined in detail in section 3. In section 4, the definition of distributivity by Gil (1982b) is reviewed, and a network of some domains including quantifier scope, quantificational interactions and distributivity is also proposed. Finally, some remarks on the network of the domains are given, so that I come to an end that quantifier scope is a part of distributivity, which are dependent.