Definiteness as Maximal Informativeness

We argue that definites are interpreted as denoting the maximally informative object that falls under the relevant predicate

The Factuality Status of Chinese Necessity Modals. Exploring the Distribution Via Corpus-Based Approach

This paper is intended to test the deontic vs anankastic hypothesis outlined by Sparvoli 2012. The stipulation is that, in past contexts, deontic modals trigger a counterfactual inference, while anankastic modals (here called ‘goal-oriented modals’) either trigger an actuality entailment effects (‘only possibility’ modals) or a generic non-factual reading (‘mere necessity’ modals). The result of this corpus-based study conducted in a Chinese-English parallel corpus confirms the crucial role played by the deontic vs goal oriented contrast in the marking of factuality in Chinese and shows that the factuality value decreases across a cline from goal-oriented to deontic modals