Open AccessAbout the whereabouts of indefinites
Author(s) -
Werner Frey
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
zas papers in linguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1435-9588
DOI - 10.21248/zaspil.24.2001.134
Subject(s) - scrambling , interpretation (philosophy) , german , reading (process) , linguistics , relation (database) , field (mathematics) , computer science , mathematics , philosophy , pure mathematics , database
The paper characterizes three different domains in the German middle field which are relevant for the interpretation of an indefinite. It is argued that the so-called 'strong' reading of an indefinite is the basic one and that the 'weak' reading needs special licensing which is mirrored by certain syntactic requirements. Some popular claims about the relation between the position and the interpretation of indefinites as well as some claims about scrambling are discussed and rejected. From the findings also follows that the strong reading of an indefinite is independent of its information status.