Further evidence for an HPSG-based theory of the semantics of different and the same

Abstract

Yatabe (2021) presents a theory according to which the meaning of a word like different in a sentence like Anna and Bill like different films contains the meaning of a reciprocal pronoun. Since the postulated reciprocal meaning inside the meaning of a word like different requires the presence of a semantic antecedent, the theory entails that the apparent internal reading of a sentence like John saw and reviewed different films, which does not contain a plural DP that could serve as the semantic antecedent of the postulated reciprocal meaning, must be licensed in a way that is entirely different from the way in which the internal reading of a sentence like Anna and Bill like different films is licensed. In the present paper, I adduce additional pieces of evidence for this theory. In order to enhance the plausibility of the proposed theory, I also show how the collective interpretation of reciprocals and the interaction of reciprocals and cumulative interpretation can be accounted for within the theory.