Plurality and Quantification

The papers in this volume address central issues in the study of Plurality and Quantification from three different perspectives: - Algebraic approaches to Plurals and Quantification - Distributivity and Collectivity: Theoretical Foundations - Distributivity and Collectivity: Empirical Investigations Algebraic approaches to the semantics of natural languages were in- dependently introduced for the study of generalized quantification, pred- ication, intensionality, mass terms and plurality. The most prominent modern advocate for an algebraic theory of plurality (and mass terms) is certainly Godehard Link. It is indicative of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Links work that most of the contributions in this volume take the logic of plurals proposed by Godehard Link (Link 1983, 1987) as their foundation or, at the very least, as their point of reference. Links own paper in this volume provides a concise summary of many of the central research issues that have engaged semanticists during the last decade. Links paper also contains an extensive bibliography that provides an excellent resource for scholars interested in the semantics of plurals. Since we can refer readers to Links paper for an excellent survey of the subject matter of this book, we will limit our attention in this in- troduction to summarizing the individual contributions in this volume. The book is organized into three main sections; within each section the papers are ordered alphabetically. However, as in much of linguistic the- orizing, there is an exception: for reasons pointed out above, Godehard Links article appears as Chapter 1.