Topic, focus and the interpretation of bare plurals
It is well known that bare plurals (BPs) can receive
both generic and existential readings:
- a. Boys are brave.
b. Boys are hungry.
Sentence (1.a) gets only a generic reading, namely that boys, in
general, are brave. Sentence (1.b), on the other hand, is ambiguous; it
can also receive a generic reading, namely that boys, in general, are
hungry, but the dominant reading is existential: there are some hungry
boys.
In this paper we argue that an account of topic and focus is crucial to
the interpretation of BPs. In particular, generically interpreted BPs
are topics, whereas nongenerically interpreted BPs are not existential,
as is usually assumed, but are dependent on the topic
Ariel Cohen and Nomi Erteschik-Shir