July 6, 2007: Satoshi Ito, Takuro Tanaka

Time:: 3:30pm, July 6, 2007
Place:: Seminar Room 1, 20th floor, National Institute of Informatics, (National Center of Sciences Bldg.).
Talk 1
Speaker:: Satoshi Ito, University of Tokyo
Title:: Wh-Questions with 'Dochira'
Abstract:: This paper investigates single-answers and list-answers in multiple wh-questions with Japanese singular wh-expression 'dochira' ('which of the two NP'). I show some further data which Ito's (2006) analysis cannot explain, and propose a revised analysis which overcomes Ito's (2006) empirical problems. This revised analysis makes it possible for the calculation to create only felicitous answers and to exclude every infelicitous answers.
Talk 2
Speaker:: Takuro Tanaka, University of Connecticut
Title:: Domains of Quantification
Abstract:: In previous literature on syntax and semantics of floating quantifiers (FQs) in Japanese, the structure and interpretation of floating numeral expressions (3-nin, 4-ko, 5-dai, etc) have mainly been investigated. Instead, this paper pays attention to another type of FQ: many's in Japanese (ooku and takusan). They seem to share the same interpretation when they are not floated, but data with these two expressions show that ooku and takusan give rise to different interpretations when they are floated. Such data are problematic for previous analyses of Japanese FQs. To explain the data, I follow Ishii's (1999) analysis, which argues that Japanese has two different kinds of FQs (adnominal FQ and adverbial FQ). I suggest that floating ooku and takusan are different types, and the domains of quantification of FQs depend on such different properties of FQs.

July 6, 2007: Satoshi Ito, Wh-Questions with 'Dochira'; Takuro Tanaka, Domains of Quantification

July 6, 2007: Satoshi Ito, Wh-Questions with 'Dochira';
Takuro Tanaka, Domains of Quantification