ENGLISH

Redefining Indefinites

By Claire Beyssade (auth.) , Carmen Dobrovie-Sorin

Book information

Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Year
2012
ISBN
9400730012, 9789400730014, 9400730020, 9789400730021
DOI
10.1007/978-94-007-3002-1
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
1 MB (1175047 bytes)
Series
Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 85
Edition
1
Pages
268\277
Orientation
yes
Scanned
no
Time added
2013-09-15 12:10:05
Romance Languages; Semantics

Description

This volume explores the interpretation of indefinites and the constraints on their distribution by paying particular attention to key issues in the interface between syntax and semantics: the relation between the semantic properties of indefinite determiners and the denotation of indefinite DPs, their scope, and their behaviour in generic and conditional sentences. Examples come from French, other Romance languages and English. Central to the proposed analyses is a distinction between two types of entities, individualized entities and amounts. Weak indefinites are analyzed as existential generalized quantifiers over amounts and strong indefinites as either Skolem terms or generalized quantifiers over individualized entities. The up-to-date review of the literature and the new falsifiable proposals contained in this book will be of particular interest to linguistics students and scholars interested in the cross-linguistic semantics of indefinites.

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