Contextual Restriction and Quantification in Basque

This paper proposes, in line with Giannakidou (2004), a novel compositional analysis of Basque strong quantifiers and provides further support for the conclusion that the standard analysis of Generalized Quantifiers need not be revised (pace Matthewson 2001). The Basque quantificational data offered provides clear evidence for the need for both quantificational (Westerståhl 1985, von Fintel 1994, Martí 2003) and nominal domain restriction (Stanley 2002, Stanley & Szabó 2000). Crucially, in Basque, the D domain restrictor only appears with strong quantifiers; it is excluded with weak quantifiers. This is taken to support the fact that these elements are not quantifiers and are not contextually restricted (cf. the standard position defended by Milsark 1979, Partee 1988, Diesing 1992, Cooper 1996, von Fintel 1998). Instead, it is argued that weak quantifiers are base-generated at the predicative type (Van Geenhoven 1998, Landman 2002).