How "many" Maximizes in the Balkan Sprachbund

This paper begins by arguing that the words many and much (and their Balkan counterparts) are modifiers of degrees, type 〈〈d, t〉, 〈d, t〉〉. They denote functions from a set of d-degrees (the scale D) to a singleton set of the degree d, which is the measure of D. This analysis is based on arguments made by Wheeler (1972), McConnell-Ginet (1973) and Klein (1982) and goes against those put forth by e.g. Keenan (1996) and Hackl (2000). It then demonstrates that such an analysis allows for a compositional account of the semantic differences between Balkan degree questions that are monomorphemic and their counterparts with an additional overt many. These examples are from Romanian:

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