Quantifier float as stranding

Abstract

Quantifier float (as in The kids are all reading) has received two main analyses, with no consensus emerging as to which is superior. Under the stranding analysis (Sportiche 1988, a.m.o.), a floated quantifier and its associate underlyingly form a single nominal phrase (e.g., all the kids), which is broken up in the course of the derivation by movement of the associate to a higher position. Under the adverbial analysis (Doetjes 1992, a.m.o.), a floated quantifier does not form a constituent with its associate at any stage of the derivation; rather, it is an adverbial element adjoined to some clausal projection. This paper presents novel data from P’urhepecha (isolate, central-western Mexico)—and specifically from the variety spoken on the island of Janitzio on Lake Pátzcuaro—that argue strongly in favor of the stranding analysis for this language. Janitzio P’urhepecha makes available a strikingly wide array of DP positions (most of them “subject” positions), and the distribution of floated quantifiers tracks that of ordinary DPs extremely faithfully. In addition, floated quantifiers match their associates in morphological case. These findings pose a considerable challenge to the hypothesis that quantifier float is universally derived by adjunction of the floated quantifier to a clausal projection.

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