The 'de re' reading and the universal quantificational phrase in Mandarin Chinese

In this paper, I examine the de re reading with respect to universal quantificational phrases (i.e., mei ge xuesheng ‘every student’) in Mandarin. I show that data from Mandarin do not support the traditional scope theory of intensionality (see Russell 1905; Montague 1973; Ladusaw 1977; Ogihara 1992, 1996; Stowell 1993) and Keshet’s (2011) split intensionality theory for the de re reading, but can be explained by a system incorporating world variables (see Cresswell 1990; Percus 2000; Fintel & Heim 2011).