Two Types of Choice-Functional Indefinites: Evidence from Ga (Kwa)

Choice-functional Series of Indefinites and Hamblin Semantics

Haspelmath 1997 poses a challenge for current theories of indefinites. Extensive data from 40 languages show there are too many differences between indefinite pronoun series to account for with the usual machinery for indefinites. For instance, we can take Russian as an example: below are 4 main Russian indefinite pronoun series. There are at least 4 other series unlisted in (1), and Bylinina &...

Negative Features on Negative Indefinites: Evidence from Split Scope

The assumption that negative indefinites are semantically non-negative elements associating with sentential negation has proven fruitful to account for the behaviour of negative indefinites in languages exhibiting negative concord. Under this view, negative indefinites carry a negative feature that has to be licensed by a semantic negation. This paper critically discusses and evaluates differen...

Choice Functions and the Scopal Semantics of Indefinites

The exceptional scopal behaviour of indefinite NP’s is a long-standing challenge for syntactic and semantic theories. Plural indefinites trigger also distributivity effects that introduce further complications in the problem of scope. Taking these interactions into account, the present paper proposes a revision in standard approaches to the syntax and semantics of indefinites. Following Reinhar...

Indefinites and Binding: From . . .

On Epistemic Indefinites: a Note on Emphatic Free Choice Uses∗

Epistemic indefinites (henceforth EIs) are existentials that when used in a positive context convey information about the speaker’s epistemic state (e.g. Jayez and Tovena, 2006, Alonso-Ovalle and Menéndez-Benito, 2010): they signal that the speaker is unable to identify the individual that satisfies the existential claim. In some languages EIs can also be used in negative contexts to convey nar...