How to be (non-)specific

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21462010
AutoresMarco Degano (Amsterdam University College, autor de correspondencia), Maria Aloni (0000-0002-8194-1173, Amsterdam University College)
Año2025
Volumen48
Número5-6
Páginas955-1003
Fecha de publicación2025-12-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLinguistics and Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0165-0157 • E-ISSN: 1573-0549
EditorialSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/s10988-025-09442-y
OpenAlexW4416097238
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas58

Indefinites are known to give rise to different scopal (specific vs. non-specific) and epistemic (known vs. unknown) uses. Farkas and Brasoveanu (Wiley Blackwell Compan. Semant. 1–26, 2020) explain these specificity distinctions in terms of stability vs. variability in value assignments of the variable introduced by the indefinite. Typological research (Haspelmath in Indefinite pronouns. Oxford University Press, 1997) shows that indefinites have different functional distributions with respect to these uses. In this work, we present a formal framework where Farkas and Brasoveanu (Wiley Blackwell Compan. Semant. 1–26, 2020’s) ideas are rigorously formalized. We develop a two-sorted team semantics that integrates both scope and epistemic effects. We apply the framework to explain the typological variety of indefinites, showing that only lexicalized indefinites have convex meanings in our system (Gärdenfors in The geometry of meaning: semantics based on conceptual spaces. MIT Press, 2014; Steinert-Threlkeld et al. Semant. Pragmat. 16:1-EA, 2023). We account for the restricted distribution and licensing conditions of different indefinites, and we focus on a particular class of indefinites, called epistemic indefinites (Alonso-Ovalle and Menéndez-Benito in Epistemic indefinites: exploring modality beyond the verbal domain. Oxford University Press, 2015)

Philosophy of language · Truth condition · Categorization, perception, and language · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation