ONE Modifiers for Distributive Universal Quantifiers #
@cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt}
In 2-form languages (English, German, Hindi, ...), distributive [+dist] UQ forms contain an additional syntactic head ONE below Q_∀ that restricts the complement to atomic or non-overlapping individuals.
Two variants:
- ONE_∅: presupposes non-overlap among restrictor elements. English every = Q_∀[ONE_∅].
- ONE_AT: presupposes atomicity (stronger than non-overlap). English each = Q_∀[ONE_∅[ONE_AT]].
Non-distributive [−dist] forms like all are bare Q_∀ with no ONE.
The ONE_AT atomicity presupposition explains why each ten minutes is ungrammatical: intervals are not atoms, so ONE_AT fails.
ONE_∅: presupposes that the restrictor contains at least two elements and that no two distinct elements overlap.
@cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt} eq. (75a): blocks plural complements (which contain overlapping sums) and forces [+dist] readings.
- has_two : ∃ (x : α) (y : α), P x ∧ P y ∧ x ≠ y
At least two distinct elements in P
- pairwise_disjoint (x y : α) : P x → P y → Mereology.Overlap x y → x = y
Pairwise non-overlap: distinct P-elements share no part
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ONE_AT: presupposes that the restrictor contains at least two elements and that all elements are atoms.
@cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt} eq. (75b): additionally blocks degree-interval predicates like ten minutes (which are non-atomic). This distinguishes each from every.
- has_two : ∃ (x : α) (y : α), P x ∧ P y ∧ x ≠ y
At least two distinct elements in P
- all_atomic (x : α) : P x → Mereology.Atom x
All P-elements are atoms
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ONE_AT implies ONE_∅: atoms are pairwise non-overlapping.
If x and y are both atoms and Overlap(x, y), then ∃z, z ≤ x ∧ z ≤ y. By atomicity of x: z = x. By atomicity of y: z = y. Hence x = y.
all = Q_∀: bare universal quantifier, no ONE modifier. Non-distributive with PL complements, distributive with SG complements. @cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt} eq. (79a).
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every = Q_∀ + ONE_∅: universal quantifier with non-overlap presupposition. Always distributive (since ONE_∅ ensures all elements are maxNonOverlap). @cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt} eq. (79b).
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each = Q_∀ + ONE_∅ + ONE_AT: universal quantifier with atomicity presupposition. Always distributive, and restricted to atomic predicates. @cite{haslinger-etal-2025-nllt} eq. (79c).
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each entails every: ONE_AT is stronger than ONE_∅.
When ONE_empty holds, QForall reduces to pointwise universal. This is the core semantic consequence of the ONE_∅ presupposition.