Adverbial Quantifiers , Maximal Situations , and “ Weak ” E-type Pronouns *

This paper argues with von Fintel (1994) and others that adverbs of quantification such as always and usually are quantifiers over situations, not unselective quantifiers. However, our proposal differs from previous proposals in that it embraces the following ideas: (i) A sentence of the form δ if/when α, β (where δ is a QAdverb) means that δ-many of the maximal situations in which α obtains and throughout which β could conceivably obtain are also β-situations. The domain of quantification for an adverbial quantifier cannot be characterized in term of minimal situations, however the term inimality is defined. Moreover, each situation that serves as a counting unit may not be “extended” into a matrix clause situation. (ii) So-called E-type pronouns always receive a “weak” reading (= Indefinite Lazy Reading for Schubert and Pelletier (1989)) equivalent to an indefinite description, not the standard E-type reading. The proposal defended here is couched in Kratzer’s (1989) situation-theoretic framework, where situations are parts of worlds. We superimpose temporal and spatial ingredients into her system. A sentence of the form if/when p, always q is true iff {s1 | p is true in s1 and s1 is a maximal situation such that at any part of s1, it is conceivable that p and q is true} ⊆ {s2 | p and q is true in s2}.