Parts and Wholes in Semantics

Parts and Wholes in Semantics deals with a general area (quantification and plurals) that has recieved much attention in the semantics literature recently. Moltmann devises a well-grounded and sophistcated theory of the interpretations of plurals, mass terms, and quantifiers which is able to contain an impressive range of data and handle many problems that have been noted in the literature. Much of the data introduced by Moltmann is intrinsically interesting, and her presentation of a general account of the material sheds new light on our understanding of these constructions. Highly original, her main point concerning the metaphysics underlying natural language is that the whole-part relationship is not transitive. This conceptually innovative book not only makes a significant controbution to semantic theory but amasses a substantial amount of original data in German, English, and other languages which should be of particular interest to scholars and students of semantic linguistics and philosophy of language.