ABSTRACT
The phenomenon of quantifier floating (QF) has been observed and described fairly extensively for English, but not to the same extent for German. The term 'quantifier' is borrowed from logic and is usually applied to a class of words that includes all, no, some, any and every, all of which express some quantification and occur as prenominal modifiers within noun phrases. The fact that indefinite NPs never occur together with the definite article, not even after floating has occurred, and that only the definite quantifiers which combine with the definite article leave a definite article behind in the source NP after floating, suggests that Links formula is wrong in that the insertion of a definite article cannot be part of the structural change. There are at least two different kinds of floating, forward and backward floating, which are subject to quite different conditions. Backward floating is restricted to definite quantifiers, presumably only with a pronominal head noun.
