Nobody and nothing: About the meaning of negative indefinite pronouns

In the paper, I deal with the comparison of the use of negative indefinite pronouns in languages with double negation with their usage in languages without double negation. In languages with double negation referential usage prevails, while in languages without double negation quantificational usage is prevalent. Double negation is often considered to be inconsistent with the understanding of quantification in standard logic. I show that languages in which negative indefinite pronouns are used are not logically weaker than languages in which this is not the case. Moreover, I show that the languages with double negation clearly distinguish between the referential and quantificational usage of negative indefinite pronouns, so that the grammar of these languages prevents referring to nonentities.