Local Competition, Number and Definitness

Abstract

In this dissertation, I explore the consequences of local competition inside the DP. I argue that various phenomena, including multiplicity inferences, homogeneity and definiteness, are best explained as locally-triggered scalar implicatures (SIs), when coupled with a view of SIs as presupposed (Bassi et al., 2021). I begin with the puzzle of the multiplicity inferences that arise from the use of plural indefinites, and show that deriving them as presupposed SIs naturally explains their felicity conditions and projection from embedded environments. I then argue that this competition-based system can account for the typology of number marking, and in fact providing us with a parsimonious theory of the crosslinguistic variation. A key result of this argument is that any language which allows for number marking on nouns has both the singular and the plural feature in its inventory. Finally, I suggest that local competition can also derive the inferences stemming from definite descriptions, including uniqueness, maximality and homogeneity.