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Difference between revisions of "Topicality"
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→Generic vs Existential
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In topicality, there are two types of bare plurals: generic and existential. | In topicality, there are two types of bare plurals: generic and existential. | ||
A ''generic bare plural'' refers to something in | A ''generic bare plural'' refers to something plural in general. Saying that “cats have tails” is a statement referring to how cats are in general. Proving that there are a couple stumpy tail-less cats is not enough to disprove the statement “cats have tails” because that statement is true in general – tail-less cats are not tail-less because they are cats, but because they lost their tails. Generics thus allow for some exceptions. However, what does it mean to be true in general? The very sad answer is that nobody knows. | ||
An ''existential bare plural'' refers to the existence of some of a noun – it can be affirmed even by the smallest of the number; all that needs to be proven true is for it to have more than one. For example, if I say “cats are on my table” it means that there is more than one cat on the table. Two cats, three cats, four cats, or more than one cat would all prove the statement true. Existential bare plurals have lower thresholds for what is true. Unlike generic bare plurals, existential bare plurals refer to specific things. | An ''existential bare plural'' refers to the existence of some of a noun – it can be affirmed even by the smallest of the number; all that needs to be proven true is for it to have more than one. For example, if I say “cats are on my table” it means that there is more than one cat on the table. Two cats, three cats, four cats, or more than one cat would all prove the statement true. Existential bare plurals have lower thresholds for what is true. Unlike generic bare plurals, existential bare plurals refer to specific things. | ||