Home Linguistics & Semiotics Pick some but not all alternatives!
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Pick some but not all alternatives!

  • Anamaria Fălăus
View more publications by John Benjamins Publishing Company
Search
Variation within and across Romance Languages
This chapter is in the book Variation within and across Romance Languages

Abstract

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.

Abstract

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.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
  4. Editors’ introduction 1
  5. Part I. Sound patterns
  6. Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
  7. Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
  8. Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
  9. Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
  10. Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
  11. Weight effects across verbal domains 119
  12. Part II. Syntax and semantics
  13. On truth persistence 135
  14. Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
  15. Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
  16. Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
  17. ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
  18. On subjunctives and islandhood 233
  19. When control can’t be a fact 255
  20. Part III. Historical aspects
  21. Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
  22. The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
  23. The French wh interrogative system 315
  24. On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
  25. Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
  26. Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
  27. English questions, Spanish structure 379
  28. French oral proficiency assessment 401
  29. Name index 417
  30. Subject index 423
https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.333.12fal

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Foreword and Acknowledgments vii
  4. Editors’ introduction 1
  5. Part I. Sound patterns
  6. Sibilant voicing assimilation in peninsular Spanish as gestural blending 17
  7. Phonology-morphology opacity in Harmonic Serialism 39
  8. Morphologically conditioned intervocalic rhotacism in Algherese Catalan 63
  9. Muta cum liquida in the light of Tertenia Sardinian metathesis and compensatory lengthening Latin tr > Old French Vrr 77
  10. Schwa at the phonology/syntax interface 101
  11. Weight effects across verbal domains 119
  12. Part II. Syntax and semantics
  13. On truth persistence 135
  14. Pick some but not all alternatives! 155
  15. Polarity fronting in Romanian and Sardinian 173
  16. Degree quantification and scope in Puerto Rican Spanish 199
  17. ‘Minimal link constraint’ violations 213
  18. On subjunctives and islandhood 233
  19. When control can’t be a fact 255
  20. Part III. Historical aspects
  21. Prevocalic velar advancement in Chilean Spanish and Proto-Romance 277
  22. The role of the copula in the diachronic development of focus constructions in Portuguese 297
  23. The French wh interrogative system 315
  24. On the relation between functional architecture and patterns of change in Romance object clitic syntax 331
  25. Part IV. Interactions across dialects and languages
  26. Investigating the effects of perceptual salience and regional dialect on phonetic accommodation in Spanish 351
  27. English questions, Spanish structure 379
  28. French oral proficiency assessment 401
  29. Name index 417
  30. Subject index 423
Sign up now to receive a 20% welcome discount
Institutional Access
How does access work?
Have an idea on how to improve our website?
Please write us.
© 2025 De Gruyter Brill
Downloaded on 19.9.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/cilt.333.12fal/html
Scroll to top button