Bart Geurts. “On an ambiguity in quantified conditionals”, ms, University of Nijmegen.
bq. Abstract: Conditional sentences with quantifying expressions are systematically ambigous. In one reading, the if-clause restricts the domain of the overt quantifier; in the other, the if-clause restricts the domain of a covert quantifier, which defaults to epistemic necessity. Although the ambiguity follows directly from the Lewis-Kratzer line on if, it is not generally acknowledged, which has led to pseudoproblems and spurious arguments.
[KvF: I will have to read this soon, since one of the sets of “pseudoproblems and spurious arguments” that Bart attacks comes courtesy of a paper that Sabine Iatridou and I gave a couple of years ago: “If and When If-Clauses Can Restrict Quantifiers” — see also Higginbotham’s parallel work: “Conditionals and Compositionality”.]
With all due respect, I think that Bart Geurts’ paper is still raw. The first pages are too intuitive and his claims are not very explicit. He trusts that the reader will have the same feelings when reading the data. The amount of theoretic devices employed is too small and I would appreciate if he could give us more formalised analyses of the data.
July 25th, 2004, at 5:41 pm #But, of course, this is my humble opinion.