none 10.1075/la.219.02alo John Benjamins Publishing Company John Benjamins Publishing Company 1757 72121898 1595758 1420043 202507022307000016 10.1075 2025-07-02T21:06:27Z 2014-11-14T18:41:19Z 2 0166-0829 10.1075/la https://benjamins.com/ catalog/la Ana Aguilar-Guevara Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México https://ror.org/01tmp8f25 Bert Le Bruyn Utrecht University https://ror.org/04pp8hn57 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9090-7383 Joost Zwarts Utrecht University https://ror.org/04pp8hn57 This volume brings together studies in the domain of weak referentiality, the phenomenon that a definite or indefinite noun phrase lacks its usual referential force. Several papers investigate syntactic or semantic properties of indefinite noun phrases, such as modality, number neutrality, narrow scope, incorporation, predication, and case marking, and that in a range of languages (Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan, German, Papiamentu, Russian). Other papers deal with weakly referential definite noun phrases in various languages (Basque, Dutch, English, French) involving scrambling, modification, possession, and accessibility. The papers demonstrate a range of empirical methods and theoretical models. This volume will not only be of interest to researchers and students in syntax and semantics, but also in psycholinguistics and language typology. 219 12 3 2014 11 14 2014 9789027257024 9789027269386 John Benjamins Publishing Company Amsterdam 10.1075/la.219 http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027269386 https://www.jbe-platform.com/deliver/fulltext/9789027269386.pdf https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/la.219/html Maria Aloni Angelika Port the case of German irgend-indefinites In this paper, we first present the results of a synchronic corpus study of the determiner irgendein and the pronoun irgend jemand in German and identify four main uses: ignorance effect in specific uses (spU), ignorance effect under epistemic modals (epiU), narrow-scope existential meaning in �negative� contexts (NPu), free choice effect under deontic modals (deoFC). Then we sketch a formal account in the framework of a Dynamic Semantics with Conceptual Covers along the lines of Aloni and Port (2011) and Aloni (2012). This enables us (i) to derive the obligatory ignorance effect irgend -indefinites induce in specific uses and under epistemic modals, (ii) to account for the NPu and deoFC uses, and (iii) to explain the different behavior of the indefinite under different modals. 12 3 2014 11 14 2014 17 44 10.1075/la.219.02alo https://benjamins.com/catalog/la.219.02alo https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1075/la.219.02alo/html Proceedings of the DGfS Workshop ‘Beyond Semantics: corpus-based investigations of pragmatic and discourse phenomena’ Aguilar-Guevara 2011 Semantics and pragmatics of indefinites: Methodology for a synchronic and diachronic corpus study A corpus of indefinite uses annotated with semantic functions: Documentation Aguilar-Guevara 2012 Quantification under Conceptual Covers Aloni 2001 10.1007/978-3-540-75144-1_1 10.1007/s11050-007-9010-2 Proceedings of Sinn und Bedeutung 16 Aloni 2012 On epistemic indefinites: A note on emphatic free choice uses From Grammar to Meaning: The Spontaneous Logicality of Language Aloni 2013 10.1017/CBO9781139519328.008 On the free choice potential of epistemic and deontic modals Proceedings of NELS 41 Aloni 2011 Epistemic indefinites crosslinguistically Proceeding of the KNAW Academy Colloquium: Cognitive Foundations of Interpretation Aloni 5 2007 Free choice items and alternatives Building a corpus of indefinite uses annotated with fine-grained semantic functions Aloni 2012 10.1007/s11050-009-9048-4 10.3765/sp.3.1 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199697977.001.0001 10.1023/A:1005494000753 Polarity Items and Dependent Indefinites in Romanian Fălăuş 2009 Proceedings of Semantics and Linguistic Theory XVIII Gajewski 340 2008 More on quantifiers in comparative clauses 10.1023/A:1012758115458 10.1016/j.lingua.2012.12.005 Indefinite Pronouns Haspelmath 1997 Remarks on comparative clauses as generalized quantifiers Heim 2006 The Partee Effect Horn 179 2005 Airport ’68 revisited: Toward a unified indefinite any 10.1093/jos/ffl002 10.1007/BF00985272 The Proceedings of the Third Tokyo Conference on Psycholinguistics Kratzer 1 2002 Indeterminate pronouns: The view from Japanese Some news on irgendein and algún Lauer 2010 The Grammar of Choice Menéndez-Benito 2005 Papers from the Parasession on the Lexicon, Chicago Linguistic Society, April 14-15 Seuren 1978 The structure and selection of positive and negative gradable adjectives 10.1007/BF00248150 10.1093/jos/16.2.97 Existence: Semantics and Syntax Zamparelli 293 2007 On singular existential quantifiers in Italian 10.1007/978-94-017-2706-8_5