The role of intonation in floating quantifiers

This paper will examine the role of focus structure and prosody in the determination of socalled floating quantifiers’ (FQ) placement. Prosody will be shown to be the determining factor in the final position that the FQ occupies in the linear string. It will also be shown that focus structure plays a crucial role in determining whether or not a quantifier can float and in determining which position the FQ will occupy. It will be shown that the existing theories do not take these factors into account and subsequently fail to provide an adequate explanation for FQ placement.