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Formal Approaches to Semantic Microvariation: Adverbial ...

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(Obenauer (1983: 78, his (42))<br />

QAD sentences with PPs forcing a single-event reading are ungrammatical.<br />

(23) a. *Dans<br />

In<br />

cette<br />

this<br />

cassette,<br />

casette,<br />

il a beaucoup trouvé de pièces d’or<br />

he has a lot found of pieces of gold<br />

b. *En soulevant le couvercle, il a beaucoup trouvé de pièces d’or<br />

In lifting the lid, he has a lot found of pieces of gold<br />

(Obenauer (1983: 78, his (43))<br />

Note that QAD sentences with PPs suggesting a context where there are many events<br />

are fine. This suggests that QAD is semantically not, in fact, quantification over the<br />

direct object, but rather some sort of quantification over events.<br />

(24) a. Dans cette caverne, il a beaucoup trouvé de pièces d’or<br />

In this caverne, he has a lot found of pieces of gold<br />

‘In this caverne, he found a lot of gold pieces’<br />

b. En cherchant par<strong>to</strong>ut, il a beaucoup trouvé de pièces d’or<br />

In searching everywhere, he has a lot found of pieces of gold<br />

‘Searching everywhere, he found a lot of gold pieces’<br />

(Obenauer (1983: 78, his (45))<br />

A second way of testing whether or not a dialect has a multiplicity of events requirement<br />

is <strong>to</strong> construct a QAD sentence with a punctual predicate like venir de ‘<strong>to</strong> just<br />

V’. Obenauer (1983) shows that while canonical quantification sentences with venir<br />

de are fine (25), QAD sentences with this predicate are bad (26).<br />

(25) a. Il vient de boire beaucoup de lait<br />

He came <strong>to</strong> drink a lot of milk<br />

‘He has just drunk a lot of milk’<br />

28

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