In:Variation within and across Romance Languages: Selected papers from the 41st Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL), Ottawa, 5–7 May 2011
Edited by Marie-Hélène Côté and Eric Mathieu
[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 333] 2014
► pp. 155–172
Pick some but not all alternatives!
Published online: 17 December 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.333.12fal
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.333.12fal
Epistemic indefinites (EIs) have been shown to trigger different free choice effects, depending on the extent of variation imposed on the domain of quantification, which can be partial (some but not all potentially relevant alternatives qualify as possible values for the indefinite) or total (all relevant alternatives qualify as possible values). I provide further evidence in favor of this distinction by focusing on the Romanian EI vreun, typically restricted to epistemic contexts. I introduce new data showing vreun can occur in certain kinds of imperatives. To capture the observed pattern, I make use of the independently established fact (following Aloni 2007) that imperatives can give rise to weak free choice inferences (akin to partial variation). This enables a uniform characterization of the contexts of occurrence of vreun as contexts that satisfy the partial variation requirement imposed by vreun.
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