Licensing by modification

Resumo

Abstract: This paper looks at the phenomena of licensing by modification, whereby an unacceptable noun phrase is redeemed by the presence of a modifier or an unavailable reading for a noun phrase is made available with the addition of a modifier. It argues that an optimal account of such phenomena should derive these effects from the interaction of the meanings of individual expressions in the sentence rather than by positing a formal licensing relation between the modifier and the noun it modifies. The general approach is explicated by considering the distribution of bare plurals in Italian and the availability of generic readings for plural definites in English. The overall goal is a modest one. It seeks to draw attention to properties of modification that go beyond set intersection by focusing on phenomena that have not so far been closely scrutinized in the literature. It uses the particular results to draw some conclusions about questions of general interest.Licensing by modification