A note on the German universal distributive quantifier jeder “every,”

A note on the German universal distributive quantifier jeder “every,”

Thomas Leu, Yale University.

Abstract

German has the universal distributive quantifier jeder, with the plausible morpheme boundaries je-d-er. German also has the distance-distributive universal quantifier jeweils, i.e. je-weil-s. In this talk I will try to motivate the idea that jeweils is a part of jeder, where weils remains unpronounced (represented by capitalization): je-WEILS-d-er. I will propose that jeweils is a quantificational (adjectival) modifier that (typically) surfaces at the left edge of the noun phrase (or DP). In indefinite (non-bare) DPs this results in (1), which is a close match of English binominal `each’. In definite (singular count) DPs, this results in (2).

1. jeweils zwei Blumen (`two flowers each’)
2. jeder Tisch (`every table’)

The proposal highlights the properties of the (internal) syntax of jeder that it shares with other determiners/quantifiers.