Anaphoric potential of cumulative dependencies

Abstract

This paper discusses the anaphoric potential of non-quantificational plural arguments, inquiring whether cumulative readings introduce new 'quantificational dependencies'. I show that (i) 'quantificational subordination' against non-distributive readings is often quite degraded, but (ii) common knowledge inference sometimes improves its acceptability, and (iii) non-distributive plural anaphora against cumulative readings may induce a co-varying reading. This suggests that cumulative readings may indeed introduce new dependencies, but their availability is limited. I propose that non-distributive readings ‘underspecify’ dependencies, while distributive readings highlight specific dependencies, and its interaction with pronoun maximality blocks quantificational subordination against cumulative readings. I implement it with 'State-based Dynamic Plural Logic' which keeps track of 'quantificational alternatives'.