Haslinger, Hien, Rosina, Schmitt and Wurm (2025): A unified semantics for universal quantifiers #
This file formalizes the single universal quantifier of Haslinger, Hien, Rosina, Schmitt and
Wurm and the two presuppositional heads it combines with. The quantifier Q∀ applies its scope
to every element of its restrictor that contains each restrictor element it overlaps. Whether the
result distributes falls out of the restrictor's part structure. A restrictor of pairwise
non-overlapping elements, such as the denotation of a singular count noun, makes Q∀ the
ordinary universal quantifier, and a sum-closed plural restrictor with a largest element makes it
a claim about that largest sum. This is the authors' Distributivity–Number Generalization, which
strengthens the implicational universal of Gil. In two-form languages such as English and German
a head ONE below the quantifier presupposes that the restrictor has more than one element and
either is pairwise non-overlapping (English every) or consists of atoms (each, German
jeder), following Fassi Fehri. The heads are partial identities on restrictors, so a
presupposition failure is undefinedness rather than falsity.
Main definitions #
MaxNonOverlap,QForall: the quantifier's domain condition and the quantifierQ∀.oneEmpty,oneAt: the heads ONE_∅ and ONE_AT as partial functions on restrictors.over,every,each,jeder: the quantifier over a head, and the English and German structures as partial propositions.
Main results #
qForall_iff_of_disjoint,qForall_iff_of_supClosed: the two halves of the generalization.each_le_every: each is defined on fewer restrictors than every and agrees where both are.dng,qForall_twoStudents: the generalization on one algebra of students, and the vacuity ofQ∀over two students when three students are salient.every_tenMinutes_dom,each_tenMinutes_undefined: consecutive ten-minute intervals meet the presupposition of every and fail that of each.one_iff_singular: the English forms carrying a ONE head are the ones the fragment records as selecting the singular.judgment_rows: the paper's ten minutes judgments are the definedness predictions.
Implementation notes #
The null individual is IsBot, the overlap relation Mereology.Overlap, and non-overlap of a
restrictor Mereology.DisjointPred. The heads are PFun.res of the identity on the
restrictors meeting their presupposition, and a structure applied to a restrictor and a scope is
a Part Prop, defined when the head is. Time is measured in minutes, so ten minutes denotes the
consecutive half-open intervals of ℕ. The survey of universal quantifiers in the paper's first
two tables is not formalized here, since a survey of lexemes has no data format in the library.
References #
The quantifier #
MaxNonOverlap P x says that x is a P-element containing every P-element it
overlaps, the domain condition of the quantifier.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.MaxNonOverlap P x = (x ∈ P ∧ ∀ y ∈ P, Mereology.Overlap x y → y ≤ x)
Instances For
The single universal quantifier Q∀ says that the scope holds of every maximal
non-overlapping element of the restrictor.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.QForall P Q = ∀ (x : α), HaslingerHienEtAl2025.MaxNonOverlap P x → x ∈ Q
Instances For
A non-null maximal non-overlapping element is maximal in P.
On a pairwise non-overlapping restrictor every element is maximal non-overlapping.
The singular half of the generalization says that on a pairwise non-overlapping restrictor the quantifier is the ordinary universal.
On a pairwise non-overlapping restrictor the quantifier is the generalized quantifier every.
On a sum-closed restrictor a maximal element is maximal non-overlapping.
On a sum-closed restrictor without the null individual, the maximal non-overlapping element is the maximal element.
The plural half of the generalization says that on a sum-closed restrictor without the null individual the quantifier applies the scope to the largest sum.
The heads ONE_∅ and ONE_AT #
The presupposition of ONE_∅ is that the restrictor has more than one element and no two of them overlap.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.OneEmptyDom P = (P.Nontrivial ∧ Mereology.DisjointPred Mereology.Overlap P)
Instances For
The presupposition of ONE_AT is that the restrictor has more than one element, all of them atoms.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.OneAtDom P = (P.Nontrivial ∧ ∀ x ∈ P, Mereology.Atom x)
Instances For
Distinct atoms never overlap, so the presupposition of ONE_AT entails that of ONE_∅.
The head ONE_∅ is the identity on the restrictors meeting its presupposition.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneEmpty = PFun.res id {P : Set α | HaslingerHienEtAl2025.OneEmptyDom P}
Instances For
The head ONE_AT is the identity on the restrictors meeting its presupposition.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneAt = PFun.res id {P : Set α | HaslingerHienEtAl2025.OneAtDom P}
Instances For
The quantifier over a head is defined when the head is defined on the restrictor, and is then the quantifier over the head's output.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.over h P Q = Part.map (fun (x : Set α) => HaslingerHienEtAl2025.QForall x Q) (h P)
Instances For
English every is the quantifier over ONE_∅.
Equations
Instances For
English each is the quantifier over ONE_∅ over ONE_AT.
Equations
Instances For
German jeder is the quantifier over ONE_AT alone, since German lacks ONE_∅.
Equations
Instances For
Each is defined on fewer restrictors than every, and where both are defined they agree, since the presupposition of each entails that of every and both leave the bare quantifier.
Under its presupposition every is the ordinary universal quantifier.
Under its presupposition each is the ordinary universal quantifier.
Decidability on finite carriers #
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableOverlap_studies x y = Fintype.decidableExistsFintype
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableAtom_studies x = { decide := decide ¬IsBot x && decide (∀ ⦃y : α⦄, ¬IsBot y → y ≤ x → x ≤ y), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableMaximalMemSet_studies x = { decide := decide (x ∈ P) && decide (∀ ⦃y : α⦄, y ∈ P → x ≤ y → y ≤ x), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidablePredMaxNonOverlap x = { decide := decide (x ∈ P) && decide (∀ y ∈ P, Mereology.Overlap x y → y ≤ x), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableQForall = { decide := decide (∀ a ∈ Finset.univ, (fun (x : α) => HaslingerHienEtAl2025.MaxNonOverlap P x → x ∈ Q) a), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableNontrivial_studies = { decide := decide (∃ a ∈ Finset.univ, (fun (x : α) => x ∈ P ∧ ∃ y ∈ P, x ≠ y) a), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableOverlapPredOverlap_studies = { decide := decide (∃ a ∈ Finset.univ, (fun (x : α) => x ∈ P ∧ ∃ y ∈ P, x ≠ y ∧ Mereology.Overlap x y) a), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableDisjointPredOverlap_studies = { decide := !decide (Mereology.OverlapPred Mereology.Overlap P), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableOneEmptyDom = { decide := decide P.Nontrivial && decide (Mereology.DisjointPred Mereology.Overlap P), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableOneAtDom = { decide := decide P.Nontrivial && decide (∀ x ∈ P, Mereology.Atom x), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Three students #
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableEqStudent x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Equations
The plural restrictor students holds of the nonempty pluralities and is closed under sum.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.students = {s : Finset HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Student | s.Nonempty}
Instances For
The singular restrictor student holds of the atoms.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.student = {s : Finset HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Student | s.card = 1}
Instances For
The restrictor two students holds of the pairs.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.twoStudents = {s : Finset HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Student | s.card = 2}
Instances For
The collective scope met, true of the whole group only.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.met = {s : Finset HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Student | s = Finset.univ}
Instances For
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidablePredFinsetStudentMemSetStudents s = { decide := decide (∃ a ∈ s, true = true), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidablePredFinsetStudentMemSetStudent s = { decide := s.card.beq 1, reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidablePredFinsetStudentMemSetTwoStudents s = { decide := s.card.beq 2, reflects_decide := ⋯ }
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidablePredFinsetStudentMemSetMet s = { decide := decide (s.val = Finset.univ.val), reflects_decide := ⋯ }
In the model the plural half says that the quantifier over students is a claim about the sum of all the students.
Every pair of students is a maximal element of two students.
Yet every pair overlaps another pair, so no pair is maximal non-overlapping.
With three salient students the quantifier over two students is vacuous, so the reading on which every pair of students satisfies the scope is unavailable.
ONE_∅ rejects the plural restrictor, whose pluralities overlap.
ONE_AT accepts the singular restrictor.
Ten minutes #
The coerced denotation of ten minutes holds of the consecutive ten-minute intervals, with time measured in minutes.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.tenMinutes = Set.range fun (k : ℕ) => Set.Ico (10 * k) (10 * k + 10)
Instances For
An interval of ten minutes is the sum of shorter intervals, so it is not an atom.
Every ten minutes is defined.
Each ten minutes is a presupposition failure.
German jede zehn Minuten is a presupposition failure, since jeder carries ONE_AT.
The English and German forms #
A universal quantifier form realizes one of four structures, namely the bare quantifier, the quantifier over ONE_∅, the quantifier over ONE_∅ and ONE_AT, or the quantifier over ONE_AT alone, as in German.
Instances For
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableEqStructure x✝ y✝ = if h : x✝.ctorIdx = y✝.ctorIdx then isTrue ⋯ else isFalse ⋯
Equations
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
The head a structure spells out.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.bare.head = ↑id
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.nonOverlap.head = HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneEmpty
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.atomic.head = HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneEmpty.comp HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneAt
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.atomicOnly.head = HaslingerHienEtAl2025.oneAt
Instances For
The English universal determiners all, every and each.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.english English.Determiners.QuantityWord.all = some HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.bare
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.english English.Determiners.QuantityWord.every = some HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.nonOverlap
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.english English.Determiners.QuantityWord.each = some HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.atomic
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.english x✝ = none
Instances For
At the lexicon the generalization says that the English forms carrying a ONE head are exactly the universal determiners the fragment records as selecting the singular.
Which structures are defined on the intervals of ten minutes.
Equations
- HaslingerHienEtAl2025.instDecidableDomOverSetNatHeadTenMinutes s Q = decidable_of_iff (s = HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.bare ∨ s = HaslingerHienEtAl2025.Structure.nonOverlap) ⋯
The structure names of the example rows.
Equations
- One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.
Instances For
The paper's judgments on universal quantifiers with ten minutes are the definedness predictions, since a form is acceptable just in case its structure is defined on the intervals.