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In:Negation in Uralic Languages
Edited by Matti Miestamo, Anne Tamm and Beáta Wagner-Nagy
[Typological Studies in Language 108] 2015
► pp. 519–546

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Indefinite pronouns in Uralic languages

 | University of Antwerp
ORCiD logo with link | University of Antwerp
Published online: 24 June 2015
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.108.19als
In this paper, different types of indefinite pronouns and adverbs that can occur in negative sentences in the Uralic languages will be described and discussed against a wider typological background. It will be shown that Uralic languages display the typological default strategy as to the interaction with sentential negation – Uralic indefinite pronouns and adverbs in negative contexts always require the presence of sentential negation – but do not show unity as to the type of indefinite used in negation. Four different types will be distinguished: neutral indefinites, negative polarity indefinites, and two types of negative indefinites: morphologically non-negative ones and morphologically negative ones.
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