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6.2.2.Universal quantifiers

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This section discusses the universal quantifiers. Subsection I starts with their use as modifiers of the noun phrase. After that, we will examine their use as independent constituents: Subsection II discusses their use as arguments, and Subsection III their use as floating quantifiers.

I. Use as modifier
II. Use as argument
III. Use as floating quantifier

[+] I. Use as modifier

Dutch has three universal quantifiers that can be used as modifiers: ieder/elk'every' and alle'all'. These quantifiers are all universal in the sense that examples such as (90) express that the set denoted by student is a subset of the set denoted by the VP een studentenkaart krijgen'to receive a student ticket'. In terms of Figure 1, this means that A - (A ∩ B) = ∅.

a.		Iedere/elke student	krijgt	een studentenkaart.
		every student	receives	a student ticket

b.		Alle studenten	krijgen	een studentenkaart.
		all students	receive	a student ticket

The quantifiers ieder and elk in (90a) are more or less free alternants, although Haeseryn et al. (1997: 350) note that some speakers have a weak tendency to use ieder for +human nouns and elk for -human nouns. These two quantifiers differ from the quantifier alle in (90b) in several respects, which we will discuss in the following subsections.

[+] A. Number

The most conspicuous difference between the two types of modifiers in (90) is that noun phrases containing ieder/elk trigger singular agreement on the verb, whereas noun phrases containing alle trigger plural agreement. This is illustrated again in (91). These examples demonstrate the difference in grammatical number in yet another way: noun phrases modified by ieder/elk can only act as the antecedent of a singular pronoun like zijn'his', whereas noun phrases modified by alle can only be the antecedent of a plural pronoun like hun'their'.

a.	Iedere/elke student	moetsg	zijn/*hun opdracht	op tijd	inleveren.
	every student	must	his/their assignment	on time	hand.in
	'Every/Each student must hand in his assignment on time.'

b.	Alle studenten	moetenpl	hun/*zijn opdracht	op tijd	inleveren.
	all students	must	their/his assignment	on time	hand.in
	'All students must hand in their assignment on time.'

This difference in number is not a purely grammatical matter, but is also reflected in the semantics. For example, verbs like zich verzamelen'to gather' or omsingelen'to surround' require their subject to be plural or at least to refer to a group of entities: such verbs may take a noun phrase modified by alle as their subject, but not a noun phrase modified by elk/ieder.

a.	Alle studenten	moeten	zich	in de hal	verzamelen.
	all students	must	refl	in the hall	gather
	'All students must gather in the hall.'

a'.	*	Elke/Iedere student	moet	zich	in de hal	verzamelen.
		every student	must	refl	in the hall	gather

b.		Alle soldaten	omsingelden	het gebouw.
		all soldiers	surrounded	the building

b'.	*	Elke/Iedere soldaat	omsingelde het gebouw.
		every soldier	surrounded the building

The reason for this contrast in acceptability is that the noun phrases modified by alle may refer to the set of entities denoted by the head noun as a whole, that is, they allow a collective reading. Noun phrases modified by elk/ieder, on the other hand, do not allow this reading, but, instead, have a distributive reading: a noun phrase like iedere/elke student expresses that the property denoted by the VP holds individually for each entity in the set denoted by the head noun student or soldaat.

[+] B. Distributivity versus collectivity

The examples in (92) in the previous subsection have shown that noun phrases modified by elk/ieder have a distributive reading, whereas noun phrases modified by alle can have a collective reading. It must be pointed out, however, that alle is also compatible with a distributive reading: this is the preferred reading of example (93a), the meaning of which is more or less equivalent to that of example (93b).

a.		Alle boeken	kosten	€ 25.
		all books	cost	€ 25

b.		Elk/Ieder boek	kost	€25.
		every book	costs	€25

In other cases, noun phrases with alle are ambiguous between a collective and a distributive reading. This ambiguity can be readily illustrated by means of (94a). Under its distributive reading, this example is semantically equivalent to (94b); both sentences express then that the property of singing a song holds for each student individually, that is, the meaning of these sentences can be satisfactorily represented by means of a universal operator: ∀x (x:student) (x has sung a song). Under the collective reading of (94a), on the other hand, it is expressed that the students sang a certain song as a group, a reading unavailable for (94b). For this reading the semantic representation with a universal operator seems inappropriate: it is therefore important to note that, strictly speaking, it is somewhat misleading to use the term universal quantifier for this collective use of alle.

a.		Alle studenten	hebben	een lied	gezongen.
		all students	have	a song	sung

b.		Elke/iedere student	heeft	een lied	gezongen.
		every student	has	a song	sung

The collective reading of alle studenten can be forced by adding a modifier of the type met elkaar'together' or samen'together', as in (95a). That these modifiers force a collective reading is clear from the fact illustrated in (95b) that they are not compatible with the distributive quantifiers ieder and elk.

a.	Alle studenten	hebben	met elkaar/samen	een lied	gezongen.
	all students	have	with each/together	a song	sung
	'All students sang a song together.'

b.	*	Elke/iedere student	heeft	met elkaar/samen	een lied	gezongen.
		every student	has	with each/together	a song	sung

[+] C. Predicative use

The fact that noun phrases with alle are ambiguous between a collective and a distributive reading, whereas noun phrases with elk/ieder only have a distributive reading, probably also accounts for the fact that only the former can be used as predicative noun phrases. In (96a), the predicative noun phrase refers to a group of students that consist of the four girls mentioned in the subject of the clause. In (96b), on the other hand, the predicative noun phrase does not refer to a group, and hence it cannot be predicated of the subject of the clause.

a.		Die vier meisjes	zijn	alle studenten die ik heb.
		those four girls	are	all students that I have

b.	*	Die vier meisjes	zijn	iedere/elke student die ik heb.
		those four girls	are	every/each student that I have

[+] D. Numerals

Another difference between the two types of universal quantifiers comes to the fore in noun phrases containing an ordinal numeral. An example such as (97a) is fully acceptable, and expresses that the 100th, 200th, etc. visitor will receive a present. Example (97b), on the other hand, gives rise to a virtually uninterpretable result.

a.		Iedere/elke honderdste bezoeker	krijgt	een cadeautje.
		every/each hundredth visitor	receives	a present

b.	*?	Alle honderdste bezoekers	krijgen	een cadeautje.
		all hundredth visitors	receive	a present

If the noun phrase contains a cardinal numeral, the use of the quantifiers ieder and elk gives rise to a somewhat marked result: example (98a) divides the set of visitors into groups of ten persons each. Example (98b) is fully acceptable in a context where the cardinality of the set of visitors is 10; the quantifier alle then emphasizes that the property denoted by the VP een cadeautje krijgen'to get a present' applies to all entities in this set. Generally it is assumed that the quantifier and the numeral constitute a phrase, which functions as a complex pre-determiner. The use of this pre-determiner alle + numeral is discussed more extensively in Section 7.1.2.2.

a.	?	Iedere/elke tien bezoekers	krijgen	een cadeautje.
		every ten visitors	receive	a present

b.		Alle	tien	(de)	bezoekers	krijgen	een cadeautje.
		all	ten	the	visitors	get	a present

[+] E. Generic use

The universal quantifiers elke/iedere and alle are not only used to quantify over a set of entities that are part of domain D, but they can also be used in generic statements, expressing a general rule which is assumed to be true in the speakerʼs conception of reality. As discussed in Section 5.1.1.5, we should distinguish the three types of generic statements in (99). Here, we will only discuss the first two types.

a.		De zebra	is gestreept.
		the zebra	is striped

b.		Een zebra	is gestreept.
		a zebra	is striped

c.		Zebraʼs	zijn gestreept.
		zebras	are striped

If a generic statement contains a definite noun phrase, the generic statement generally applies to (entities that belong to) a certain species. Example (100a) refers to a certain species of birds, and it is claimed that this species is extinct. In this case, the definite article cannot be replaced by the universal quantifiers alle and elke/iedere.

100

a.		De Dodo	is uitgestorven.
		the Dodo	is extinct

b.	#	Alle Dodoʼs	zijn	uitgestorven.
		all Dodos	are	extinct

c.	*	Elke/Iedere dodo	is uitgestorven.
		every dodo	is extinct

Note, however, that the universal quantifier alle would be acceptable in a situation in which the noun denotes a species that can be divided into several subspecies: in such a case, alle would quantify over all subspecies. The quantifiers elk/ieder would still yield an unacceptable result in such a case. The examples in (101) aim at illustrating this.

101

a.		De Dinosaurus	is uitgestorven.
		the Dinosaur	is extinct

b.		Alle Dinosaurussen	zijn uitgestorven.
		all Dinosaurs	are extinct

c.	*	Elke/Iedere dinosaurus	is uitgestorven.
		every dinosaur	is extinct

If a generic statement contains an indefinite noun phrase, the generic statement generally applies to a prototypical member of the set denoted by the head noun. Example (102a) claims that the prototypical zebra is striped. In this case, the indefinite article can readily be replaced by the universal quantifier alle: example (102b) simply claims that the property of being striped holds for all zebras. The quantifiers ieder and elk can also be used in this context, but, as Haeseryn et al. (1997: 349) note, in this case the sentence has an emphatic flavor: each and every entity that is a zebra is striped.

102

a.		Een zebra	is gestreept.
		a zebra	is striped

b.		Alle zebraʼs	zijn gestreept.
		all zebras	are striped

c.	?	Iedere/Elke zebra	is gestreept.
		every zebra	is striped

[+] F. Agreement

The grammatical gender feature may also serve to distinguish elk/ieder and alle in that the form of the former depends on the gender of the head noun, whereas the latter is invariant. This distinction is of course related to the fact that the head noun is singular in the former case, whereas it is plural in the latter: gender agreement of a modifier and a singular head noun is very common, whereas the form of the modifier of a plural noun is generally insensitive to the gender of the noun; cf. Section 3.2, sub I.

103

a.		iedere/elke	man	de man
		every/each	man

a'.		ieder/elk	kind	het kind
		every/each	child

b.		alle	mannen/kinderen
		all	men/children

Observe that the de-nouns mens'person' and persoon'person' are exceptional in not accepting/requiring the inflectional -e ending. This is illustrated in (104).

104

a.		elk(e)/ieder(e)	mens
		every/each	person

b.		elk(e)/ieder(e)	persoon
		every/each	person

[+] G. Non-count nouns

A final difference between iets/elk and alle involves non-count nouns. Since universal quantifiers typically quantify over a set of discrete entities, universal quantifiers are not expected to combine with non-count nouns. As is shown in (105a) for abstract non-count nouns, this expectation is indeed borne out for elke/ieder. The quantifier alle, on the other hand, can combine with such non-count nouns. It seems reasonable to connect this difference to the fact that only alle can give rise to a collective reading: in the case of non-count nouns, this collective reading appears in the guise of a “total quantity” reading.

105

a.	*	Elke/iedere	ellende	is ongewenst.
		every	misery	is unwanted

b.	Alle ellende	is voorbij.
	all misery	is passed
	'All misery has passed.'

Of course, this does not mean that iets/elk can never be combined with a non-count noun, but if it does there will be a semantic clash between the reading of iets/elk and that of the non-count noun, and as a consequence the non-count noun will get reinterpreted as a count noun. The noun phrase containing the substance noun wijn in (106a), for example, normally refers to some contextually determined quantity of wine. In (106b), on the other hand, iets/elk trigger a count noun interpretation on this noun, which now means “type of wine”. The quantifier alle allows both the non-count and the count noun interpretation: in the former case the noun wijn appears in the singular, as in (106c), and in the latter it appears in the plural, as in (106c').

106

a.		De wijn	wordt	gekeurd.
		the wine	is	sampled

b.		Elke/iedere wijn	wordt	gekeurd.
		every wine	is	sampled

c.		Alle wijn	wordt	gekeurd.
		all wine	is	sampled

c'.		Alle wijnen	worden	gekeurd.
		all wines	are	sampled

[+] II. Use as argument

If a universal quantifier is used as an argument, it will generally be realized as the +human quantified pronoun iedereen'everyone' or the -human quantified pronoun alles'everything' in (107), discussed in Section 5.2.

107

a.		Iedereen	ging	naar	de vergaderzaal.
		everyone	went	to	the meeting.hall

b.		Alles	is uitverkocht.
		everything	is sold.out

The quantifier alle(n) in (108) may perform the same role as the quantifiers iedereen/alles in (107): if the context provides sufficient information about the intended referent set, it is possible to use alle(n) as a pronominal quantifier instead of the full quantified noun phrases alle studenten/boeken'all students/books'.

108

a.		Alle studenten/Allen	gingen	naar	de vergaderzaal.
		all students/all	went	to	the meeting.hall

b.		Alle boeken/Alle	zijn	uitverkocht.
		all books/all	are	sold.out

It is also possible to use the modifiers ieder and elk as arguments, although this is considered very formal. The independent use of these quantifiers seems more or less restricted to contexts in which they are modified by means of a postnominal van-PP where the complement of van is a plural pronoun/noun phrase. In examples such as (109), there is a strong tendency to use ieder for +human referents; the tendency to restrict the use of elk to -human entities seems somewhat weaker.

109

a.	Ieder/?Elk van ons	weet	dat	de voorzitter	geroyeerd	is.
	each of us	knows	that	the chairman	expelled	is
	'Each of us knows that the chairman is expelled.'

b.	Elk/*?Ieder van die boeken	is een fortuin	waard.
	each of those books	is a fortune	worth
	'Each of those books is worth a fortune.'

There are, however, some idiomatic examples in which ieder is used independently without a modifier being present as in, e.g., ieder zijn deel'everyone will get his share'. Furthermore, ieder can be used independently without a modifier if it heads an indefinite noun phrase introduced by the article een; this seems impossible with elk (although some incidental cases can be found on the internet).

110

Een	ieder/*?elk	weet	dat	de voorzitter	geroyeerd	is.
an	each	knows	that	the chairman	expelled	is
'Everyone knows that the chairman is expelled.'

[+] III. Use as floating quantifier

Floating quantifiers are quantifiers which are associated to noun phrases occurring elsewhere in the sentence, but with which they do not form a syntactic constituent. This use, which is restricted to universal quantifiers, is illustrated in (111). In this case, too, the difference between ieder/elk and allen seems to be that the former have a distributive reading, whereas the latter has a more collective flavor: it is, however, harder to demonstrate the difference here since it is not the case that (111b) can be used to express that the students received one hundred euros as a group.

111

a.	De studenten	kregen	ieder/elk	honderd euro.
	the students	got	each	hundred euro
	'The students got a hundred euros each.'

b.	De studenten	kregen	allemaal/?allen	honderd euro.
	the students	got	all	hundred euro
	'All the students got a hundred euros.'

Our impression might be substantiated by means of the examples in (112). Since the predicate bij elkaar komen requires a plural/collective subject, we may account for the contrast between the two examples by appealing to the fact that the quantifiers ieder and elk force a distributive reading of the subject, whereas alle(maal) allows either a collective or a distributive reading. Recall that the use of allen is somewhat formal: in speech it is generally the form allemaal that is used.

112

a.	*	De studenten	kwamen	ieder/elk	bij elkaar.
		the students	came	each	together

b.		De studenten	kwamen	allemaal/?allen	bij elkaar.
		the students	came	all	together

The use of floating quantifiers with -human antecedents seems somewhat more restricted than with +human ones. The use of the distributive quantifiers in (113a) seems to give rise to an especially degraded result: although elk is accepted by some speakers, ieder is categorically rejected. In (113b), allemaal is clearly preferred to alle.

113

a.		De vliegtuigen	worden	%elk/*ieder	gekeurd.
		the airplanes	are	each	examined

b.		De vliegtuigen	worden	allemaal/??alle	gekeurd.
		the airplanes	are	all	examined

If the antecedent is interrogative, only the floating quantifier allemaal seems possible: elk/ieder and alle(n) all give rise to a degraded result. In (114), we give examples involving a +human antecedent.

114

a.		*Wie/??welke studenten	kregen	er	elk/ieder	honderd euro?
		who/which students	got	there	each	hundred euro

b.		Wie/welke studenten	kregen	er	allemaal/*allen	honderd euro?
		who/which students	got	there	all	hundred euro

Here we will not go any deeper into the properties of these floating quantifiers. A more general discussion on floating quantifiers can be found in Section 7.1.4, sub III, which also includes a discussion of floating quantifiers like beide'both' and alletwee'all two'.

References:

Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff
Haeseryn, Walter, Romijn, Kirsten, Geerts, Guido, Rooij, Jaap de & Toorn, Maarten C. van den1997Algemene Nederlandse spraakkunstGroningenNijhoff

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About this article

Author(s): Hans Broekhuis

Category: Dutch Syntax

Publication date: 22 November 2023

Keywords: AgreementAttributive -e endingBindingCount NounDistributivityFloating QuantifierGenericityNon-count NounNounQuantifierSubject-verb AgreementUniversal Quantifier

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