Ke dvojznačnosti kvantovacích sloves a recipročních výrazů v konstrukcích s násobnými číslovkami
On the ambiguity of quantized verbs and reciprocals in constructions with multiplicative numerals

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents an analysis of two types of syntactic constructions: constructions with a quantized verb like zaklepat 'knock' and a quantifier like dvakrát 'twice' on the one hand and constructions with reciprocals like navštívit se (vzájemně) 'visit each other' and a quantifier like dvakrát 'twice.' Both of these syntactic construction types display a similar ambiguity: for instance, dvakrát zaklepat 'to knock twice' means either 'to make two knocks' or 'to make two series of knocks' while dvakrát se vzájemně navštívit means either 'to make two visits' or 'to make four visits (two and two),' with the former senses being instances of "internal" quantification (what is quantified is part of the meaning of the quantized verb and the reciprocal, but it cannot be directly expressed with it). Through this analysis a group of conditions has been identified which arguably have to be met so that the ambiguity could arise: 1. The denotation of the predicate can be divided into separate actions. If reciprocals like navštívit se (vzájemně) 'to visit (each other)' are considered autonomous verbs (i.e. not syntactic constructions), then it is the case that: 2. The separate actions can be expressed with a verb which is a base for the respective quantized verb or the reciprocal verb in a derivational sense; 3. The verb is syntactically intransitive. A general condition for the observed ambiguity is an interaction of two quantifiers. It can be assumed that when an "external" quantification is opted for, i.e., sets of events are counted, the quantification carried out by the quantized verb or by the reciprocal usually happens before the quantification related to a quantifier like dvakrát 'twice.'

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