Spanish Bare Interrogatives and Number

Abstract

Abstract Dayal (1996) makes two predictions on the interaction of number and wh-phrases: (i) that questions with singular wh-phrases yield a uniqueness inference, and (ii) that questions with plural wh-phrases yield an antiuniqueness inference. Maldonado (2020) shows that Spanish bare wh-phrases do not conform to Dayal’s predictions. From this, she argues against a unified treatment of number across wh-expressions. Elliott et al. (2022) argue that a unified treatment of number can be maintained if bare wh-phrases are capable of ranging over generalized quantifiers. We weigh in on this discussion by arguing for an intermediate position: though independent evidence suggests that wh-phrases can range over generalized quantifiers, an assumption that we adopt for bare wh-phrases, the unified treatment of number presented in Elliott et al. (2022) faces challenges that can be avoided under Maldonado’s assumptions about number marking on bare wh-phrases.