A workshop on Quantity Expressions, 12-13 October 2012

In this workshop, we set out to discuss the semantics of quantity expressions, such as much, many, little, and their comparative (more, less) and superlative (most, least) counterparts. We are interested in theoretical and experimental investigations that address questions such as:

• Should the analysis of the various quantity expressions be stated in a uniform way or does each expressions require a distinct analysis?
• What is the basic meaning of 'positive' quantity expressions (much, many, little, few) and how do they relate to each other?
• Is the meaning of the comparative and superlative expressions derived from their 'positive' counterparts.
• How can we derive the differences in implications and inferences that the various expressions carry?

• What is the source of 'epistemic effects’ and 'ignorance references’ in some quantity expressions, especially in superlative quantifiers—is it semantic (lexical) or pragmatic? 

Invited speakers