Reciprocity without reciprocal pronouns

Abstract

In this paper, I claim that reciprocity consists of three independentsemantic components, namely (i) the distributivity component, (ii) the anaphoricitycomponent and (iii) the disjointness component. I show that a distributor sorezorein Japanese induces a reciprocal reading when the configuration between sorezoreand its antecedent violates Condition B. Adopting the plural dynamic semanticframework (van den Berg 1996; Nouwen 2007; Brasoveanu 2007: among others), Ipropose that the co-reference condition of sorezore is collectively evaluated, but itsscope domain is distributively evaluated. As a result, sorezore and its antecedentare co-referential at the level of plural individuals, but disjoint at the level ofatomic individuals, deriving a reciprocal reading. This suggests that the disjointnesscondition is not hard-wired in the semantics of sorezore. I further discuss otherreciprocal strategies in Japanese and in other languages and suggest that distributivityand anaphoricity are not always encoded to a single entry, either.