Meaning and Use of Indefinite Expressions

Journal of Logic, Language and Information 11 (2):141-194 (2002)
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Abstract

Sentences containing pronouns and indefinite noun phrases can be said toexpress open propositions, propositions which display gaps to be filled.This paper addresses the question what is the linguistic content ofthese expressions, what information they can be said to provide to ahearer, and in what sense the information of a speaker can be said tosupport their utterance. We present and motivate first order notions ofcontent, update and support. The three notions are each defined in acompositional fashion and brought together within a single and coherentframework.

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Paul Dekker
University of Amsterdam

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Free choice, modals, and imperatives.Maria Aloni - 2007 - Natural Language Semantics 15 (1):65-94.
On Dependent Pronouns and Dynamic Semantics.Rick Nouwen - 2007 - Journal of Philosophical Logic 36 (2):123-154.
Scope control and grammatical dependencies.Alastair Butler - 2007 - Journal of Logic, Language and Information 16 (3):241-264.
Semantically Restricted Argument Dependencies.Alastair Butler - 2011 - Journal of Logic, Language and Information 20 (1):69-114.

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References found in this work

Quantifiers and propositional attitudes.Willard van Orman Quine - 1955 - Journal of Philosophy 53 (5):177-187.
Dynamic predicate logic.Jeroen Groenendijk & Martin Stokhof - 1991 - Linguistics and Philosophy 14 (1):39-100.
Universal grammar.Richard Montague - 1970 - Theoria 36 (3):373--398.
E-type pronouns and donkey anaphora.Irene Heim - 1990 - Linguistics and Philosophy 13 (2):137--77.

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