Michel Navarro

This paper addresses the scope behavior of bare nouns (BNs) in Kaingang (Jê, Brazil) and its relevance to the study of semantic variation. I show that Kaingang BNs exhibit variable scope in relation to other clause-mate operators, such as negation, intensional verbs, _if_-clauses, universal quantifiers, and frequency adverbials. Adopting a type-shifting framework (Chierchia in Topics in the syntax and semantics of infinitives and gerunds. PhD diss., University of Massachusetts, 1984 ; Events and grammar, pp. 53–103, 1998a ; Natural Language Semantics 6: 339–405, 1998b ; Partee in Studies in discourse representation theory and the theory of generalized quantifiers, pp. 115–144, 1986 ; Krifka in Proceedings of SALT 13, pp. 180–203, 2003 ; Dayal in Linguistics and Philosophy, 27: 393–450, 2004, among others), I analyze Kaingang indefinite BNs as predicate NPs mapped into arguments via a choice function (CF) that gets existentially closed at any level in the clause, _à la_ English indefinites under Reinhart’s (Linguistics and Philosophy, 20(4): 335–397, 1997 ; Interface strategies: Optimal and costly computations, 2006 ) analysis. I also argue that the difference in scope properties across languages between variable-scope and narrowest-scope BNs is linked to the quantized/cumulative opposition of the predicates they express: the former are quantized predicates, while the latter are cumulative. I then claim that variable-scope and narrowest-scope BNs are created by two distinct type-shifters: the former by CF and the later by Krifka’s ∃ operator (Krifka in Proceedings of SALT 13, pp. 180–203, 2003 ). In this way, I propose that both operators are sensitive to the quantized/cumulative opposition and model this as conditioned by a binary semantic feature, namely [± quantizedness], which checks the (non-)quantized properties of the predicates that undergo type-shifting. The CF type-shifter is [+ quant], and thus defined only for quantized predicates, while Krifka’s ∃ type-shifter is [− quant], selecting only non-quantized ones. This analysis is shown to correctly predict the variation in scope properties of BNs across languages.

El objetivo de este trabajo es teorizar el andamiaje integrado por las categorías de modos de apropiación de lo real, formas de la conciencia y contemplación estética, construida con referentes kantianos, hegelianos y marxistas. Con base en un esquema de investigación, los escritos más representativos fueron revisados y fichados en una base de datos; el fichero fue codificado y redactado el texto final. Se encontró que la conciencia individual se constituye con referentes de diferentes modos de apropiación de lo real adquiriendo una forma determinada: empírica, mágico-religiosa, artística o teórica. A cada modo de apropiación corresponde una forma de conciencia y un determinado tipo de experiencia plena pero, la presencia de referentes de distintos modos de apropiación, permite que el mismo sujeto establezca experiencias de distinto tipo.