Linking sensitivity to limited distribution
In this paper I propose an analysis of free choice indefinites (FCIs) in
Greek as sensitive expressions in the sense of Giannakidou 1997, i.e. as
polarity items.(PIs). The primary goal is to connect the semantic
constraints on the distribution of FCIs to their semantics, in favor of the
more general argument that it is sensitivity that determines limited
distribution in PIs. First, I establish that FCIs are PIs distinct from
negative polarity items (NPIs): the distribution of the two paradigms will
be shown to contrast in some crucial aspects. Next, I propose a semantics
of FCIs as existential quantifiers encoding attributiviness (in the sense
of Donnellan 1967). Attributiveness is a modal feature which imposes the
requirement that FCIs be interpreted with respect to a set of epistemic
i(dentity)- alternatives to the world of evaluation w0 (cf. Dayal 1997).
This interpretative requirement fails to be satified in episodic contexts,
i.e contexts which involve event closure, FCIs will thus be ungrammatical
there. By contrast, FCIs will be grammatical in contexts where the event
variable is bound by some operator or absent altogether (habitual/generic
sentences and individual-level predicates). The anti-episodicity
requirement is captured in the form of an anti-licensing condition by
episodicity, hence allowing for anti-licensing as a theoretically
available option for well-formedness conditions on certain PIs. The final
step is to use this analysis for an account of English any. I will argue
that any is a multiply sensitive item, subject to the licensing
constraints both NPIs and FCIs are.
Anastasia Giannakidou