Indefinites in comparatives

Authors
Publication date 2014
Journal Natural Language Semantics
Volume | Issue number 22 | 2
Pages (from-to) 145-167
Organisations
  • Faculty of Science (FNWI)
  • Faculty of Humanities (FGw)
  • Interfacultary Research - Institute for Logic, Language and Computation (ILLC)
Abstract The goal of this paper is to explain the meaning and distribution of indefinites in comparatives, focusing on English some and any and German irgend-indefinites. We consider three competing theories of comparatives in combination with an alternative semantics of some and any, and a novel account of stressed irgend-indefinites. One of the resulting accounts, based on Heim’s analysis of comparatives, predicts all the relevant differences in quantificational force, and explains why free choice indefinites are licensed in comparatives.
Document type Article
Language English
Published at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-013-9103-z
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