(The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity. Koen Roelandt CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel

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(The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity Koen Roelandt CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel koen.roelandt@hubrussel.be 1

Introduction (1) Jan heeft de meeste bergen beklommen. John has thepl.masc. most mountainspl.masc. climbed John climbed (the) most mountains. Two different readings: 1. Absolute: John climbed more mountains than he didn t climb 2. Relative: John climbed more mountains than the other climbers did (2) Jan heeft het meeste bergen beklommen. John has thesing.neut. most mountainspl.masc. climbed John climbed the most mountains. The article het the does not agree with the noun bergen mountains. (2) only has a relative reading. Claim 1: In Dutch, the distribution and the different readings are linked to definiteness and specificity. Claim 2: In Dutch, there are two different structures underlying de meeste and het meeste. Either D agrees with the head noun, or it doesn t. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 2 of 31.

1. Analysis of English superlatives a. Absolute reading b. Relative reading c. Definiteness 2. Analysis of English most a. Absolute reading b. Relative reading c. Definiteness 3. Analysis of Dutch de meeste and het meeste a. Preamble: de and het b. Dutch data i. First test: existential there ii. Second test: DP-internal focus iii. Third test: scrambling c. Claim 1: definiteness and specificity d. Claim 2: two different syntactic structures 4. Conclusion Outline Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 3 of 31.

English superlatives Analysis of superlatives by Heim (1999) and Szabolcsi (1986). Two different readings: - absolute reading - relative reading. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 4 of 31.

English superlatives: absolute reading John climbed the highest mountain. [-est C] i [ d i -high mountain] = λx. y C [y x max { d: x is a d-high i mountain} > max { d: y is a d-high mountain} ] Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 5 of 31.

English superlatives: relative reading John climbed the highest mountain. [-est C] i [climbed [d i -high mountain]] = λx. y C [y x max {d: x climbed a d-high mountain} > max {d: y climbed a d-high mountain}] Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 6 of 31.

English superlatives: definiteness Heim (1999): The the which appears on the surface is semantically vacuous. On a deeper level, the represents the definite or the indefinite article. - Definite in absolute readings. The DP acts as an island, which prevents movement of [C -est] out of the DP. - Indefinite in relative readings. [C -est] can move out of the DP to adjoin to [SPEC, VP]. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 7 of 31.

English most Analysis of most by Hackl (2009). Most is the superlative of many. Two different readings: - absolute (or proportional) reading - relative reading. The two different readings are triggered by the presence or absence of the. (3) (a) John climbed most mountains. (b) John climbed the most mountains. (absolute) (relative) Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 8 of 31.

English most: absolute reading John climbed most mountains. [-est C] i [d i -many mountains] = λx. y C [y x max {d: mountains(x) & x d} > max {d: mountains(y) & y d}] Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 9 of 31.

English most: relative reading John climbed the most mountains. [-est C] i [climbed [ d i -many mountains] = λx. y C [y x max {d: z [mountains(z) & z d & climbed(x, z)]} > max {d: z [mountains(z) & z d & climbed(y, z)]}] Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 10 of 31.

Most: definiteness Hackl (2009): The is undefined (and absent?) in an absolute reading: - Maximality presupposition (Link (1983)): the demands reference to the full set of objects ( the mountains = all mountains ). - The absolute reading is incompatible with the full set since it denotes a proportion of the set. The is indefinite in relative readings. [C -est] can move out to adjoin to [SPEC, VP]. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 11 of 31.

Preamble: de and het De versus het (4) (a) de man the mansing.masc. (b) het huis - de vrouw - the womansing.fem. - het geld (c) the housesing.neut. - the moneysing.neut. de mannen - de vrouwen - de huizen the menpl.masc. - the womenpl.fem. - the housespl.neut. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 12 of 31.

Dutch de meeste and het meeste Two puzzles Jan heeft de meeste bergen beklommen. John has thepl.masc. most mountainspl.masc. climbed John climbed (the) most mountains. (1) (relative/absolute) (2) (relative) Jan heeft het meeste bergen beklommen. John has thesing.neut. most mountainspl.masc. climbed John climbed the most mountains. 1.Why does (2) only have a relative reading? 2. Why can the neuter article het combine with plural masculine bergen in (2)? Claims 1. The different readings and distribution are linked to definiteness and specificity. 2. There are two distinct structures underlying de meeste and het meeste. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 13 of 31.

Definiteness test: existential there Only indefinite DPs can appear in sentences with existential there. Milsark (1974), Szabolcsi (1986) (5) (a) (b) (c)* Er is een man in de straat. there is a man in the street Er zijn mannen in de straat. there are men in the street Er is de man in de straat. there is the man in the street Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 14 of 31.

Existential there: de/het meeste Only indefinite DPs can appear in sentences with existential there. (6) (a) Er zijn het meeste bergen in Zwitserland. there are the most mountains in Switzerland (b)* Er zijn de meeste bergen in Zwitserland. there are the most mountains in Switzerland (relative) Het meeste appears to be indefinite, de meeste definite. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 15 of 31.

Definiteness test: DP-internal focus Only indefinite DPs can have DP-internal focus. (Pancheva and Tomaszewicz (2012)) The relative reading with DP-internal focus is not available in English. It can be found in Slavic languages if the DP is indefinite. If one puts a definite article in front of the DP, this relative reading disappears in Macedonian and Bulgarian. (7)... dat JAN [DP het meeste platen [PP van Zappa]] beluisterd heeft.... that John the most records by/of Zappa listened has... that John listened to the most records by/of Zappa (relative) (8)... dat Jan [DP het meeste platen [PP van ZAPPA]] beluisterd heeft.... that John the most records by/of Zappa listened has... that John listened to the most records by/of Zappa (relative) Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 16 of 31.

Definiteness test: DP-internal focus If we build a sentence with de meeste instead of het meeste, the relative reading with DP-internal focus disappears. (9)... dat Jan [DP de meeste platen [PP van ZAPPA]] beluisterd heeft.... that John the most records by/of Zappa listened has... that John listened to most records by/of Zappa (absolute) Het meeste appears to be indefinite, de meeste definite. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 17 of 31.

Specificity test: scrambling Non-specific indefinite DPs can t be scrambled Specific: the speaker has a particular object in mind Non-specific: the speaker does not have a particular object in mind (Hawkins 1978) (11)(a) (b)...dat Jan gisteren iets/wat gekregen heeft....that John yesterday something gotten has...that John got something yesterday....dat Jan iets/*wat gisteren gekregen heeft....that John something yesterday gotten has (12)(a)...dat Jan gisteren de/één/een auto gekregen heeft....that John yesterday the/one/a car gotten has...that John got the/one/a car yesterday. (b)...dat Jan de/één/??een auto gisteren gekregen heeft....that John the/one/??a car yesterday gotten has...that John got the/one/a car yesterday. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 18 of 31.

Scrambling: de meeste versus het meeste (13)(a) (b)...dat Jan gisteren de meeste bergen beklommen heeft....that John yesterday the most mountains climbed has...that John climbed (the) most mountains yesterday....dat Jan de meeste bergen gisteren beklommen heeft....that John the most mountainspl. yesterday climbed has...that John climbed most mountains yesterday. (relative/absolute) (absolute) (14)(a)...dat Jan gisteren het meeste bergen beklommen heeft....that John yesterday the most mountains climbed has...that John climbed the most mountains yesterday. (b) *...dat Jan het meeste bergen gisteren beklommen heeft....that John the most mountains yesterday climbed has (relative) DPs with relative readings pattern with the distribution of non-specific indefinite DPs: they are excluded in a scrambled position. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 19 of 31.

Claim 1: definiteness and specificity DPs with relative readings are only found in the base-generated position, just like non-specific indefinites can occur in clauses with existential there can have a comparison class defined by the DP-internal PP. DPs with absolute readings can be scrambled are ungrammatical in clauses with existential there do not have a comparison class defined by the DP-internal PP. Claim 1 DPs with de/het meeste and relative readings are non-specific indefinite. DPs with de/het meeste and absolute readings are definite. het meeste bergen can only have relative readings and is always indefinite Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 20 of 31.

Claim 2: two structures Why can the neuter article het combine with plural masculine bergen? Claim 2 There are two syntactic structures underlying de meeste and het meeste: 1. AGR: with a D that agrees with the head noun 2. *AGR: with a D that does not agree with the head noun 3. het meeste + neuter mass N is ambiguous between the two. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 21 of 31.

AGR The determiner agrees with the head noun: (12) (a) (b) (c) de meeste mannen thepl.masc. most menpl.masc. de meeste vrouwen thepl.fem. de most meeste huizen womenpl.fem. thepl.neut. most housespl.neut. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 22 of 31.

AGR: absolute reading DP D NP de [Gender:_,Number:_] AP [-st(e) C]k dk-veel NP bergen [Gender:masc.,Number:pl.] D agrees with the NP in number and gender. [-st(e) C] k moves out of the AP (Heim (1999), Hackl (2009)). [[-st(e) C] k [d k -veel bergen]] is the expected absolute reading. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 23 of 31.

TP AGR: relative reading DP T Jan VP T VP V heeft DP beklommen de [-st(e) C]k dk-veel bergen [-st(e) C] k adjoins to VP (Szabolcsi (1986), Heim (1999), Hackl (2009)). [[-st(e) C] k [[de d k -veel bergen] beklommen]] is the relative reading. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 24 of 31.

The determiner in *AGR does not agree with the head noun: (13) (a) het meeste mannen (b) (c) thesing.neut. thesing.neut. most menpl.masc. het meeste vrouwen het thesing.neut. most meeste most womenpl.fem. huizen housespl.neut. *AGR The *AGR structure shows similarities with indefinite plurals. We assume that there is a null D in both cases: (15) (a) Er zijn [DP het meeste] bergen [PP in Zwitserland.]] (b) [DP Ø there are Ø the most mountains Er zijn mannen [PP in de straat.]] [DP Ø there are Ø men in the street Switzerland Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 25 of 31. in

*AGR: no absolute reading DP D NP Ø DP NP D het NP bergen AP NP [-st(e) C]k dk-veel Ø Null D in the highest DP accounts for the combination with existential there. Null NP accounts for the absence of agreement Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 26 of 31.

TP *AGR: relative reading DP T Jan VP T VP V heeft DP beklommen het [-st(e) C]k dk-veel bergen [-st(e) C] k adjoins to VP (Szabolcsi (1986), Heim (1999), Hackl (2009)). [[-st(e) C] k [[het d k -veel bergen] beklommen]] is the relative reading. This is the only available reading for *AGR structures. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 27 of 31.

Interesting consequences Absolute readings are definite: - There is a unique plurality of mountains that John climbed and that is greater than the mountains he did not climb. - Uniqueness is a feature of definite DPs (Milsark (1974), Farkas and Kiss (2000)) Relative readings are non-specific indefinite: - The cardinality of different pluralities of mountains is compared relative to climbers. - It is not possible to refer to one unique plurality of mountains. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 28 of 31.

Conclusion In Dutch, de/het meeste has an absolute and a relative reading: - the different readings do not depend on the article - the DPs with relative readings are non-specific indefinite - the DPs with absolute ( proportional ) readings are definite - there are two different syntactic structures underlying de/het meeste. Future research: - Research of English data (and other languages) - How can definite de meeste become indefinite in the relative reading? - What is the status of the empty NP in *AGR structures? - Similar expressions, such as de/het minste, de meerderheid etc. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 29 of 31.

Bibliography Donka F. Farkas and Katalin E. Kiss. On the comparative and absolute readings of superlatives. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory, (18):417 455, 2000. Martin Hackl. On the grammar and processing of proportional quantifiers: Most versus more than half. Natural Language Semantics, 17(1):63 98, 2009. John Hawkins. Definiteness and indefiniteness: a study in reference and grammaticality prediction. Croom Helm Linguistics Series. Croom Helm; Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1978. Irene Heim. Notes on superlatives. MIT lecture notes. Available at http://semanticsarchive.net/archive/ti1mtlhz/superlative.pdf, 1999. Godehard Link. Meaning, use and interpretation of language, chapter The logical analysis of plurals and mass terms: a lattice-theoretical approach., pages 302 323. de Gruyter, 1983. Ora Matushansky. On the attributive nature of superlatives. Syntax, 11(1):26 90, 2008. Gary Milsark. Existential Sentences in English. PhD thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1974. Roumyana Pancheva and Barbara Tomaszewicz. Cross-linguistic differences in superlative movement out of nominal phrases. In Nathan Arnett and Ryan Bennett, editors, Proceedings of the 30th West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics. Cascadilla Proceedings Project, 2012. Anna Szabolcsi. Comparative superlatives. In Elizabeth Sagey, Tova R. Rapoport, and Naoki Fukui, editors, Papers in Theoretical Linguistics. MIT WPL 8. MIT, 1986. Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 30 of 31.

Thank you!!! http://www.xkcd.com/77/ Koen Roelandt (CRISSP, KU Leuven HUBrussel) ESSLLI Aug. 12, 2013 (The) most in Dutch: Definiteness and Specificity 31 of 31.

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