Abstract
In combinations with singular count nouns, the Dutch indefinite determiner enig ‘some/any’ shows a diachronic distributional shift from nonveridical environments in general to a strict subset thereof, namely negative, conditional and interrogative contexts. Similarities with Greek indefinites of the kanenas-series are explored, and an argument is given that at some point enig has split into two uses, one of which is currently on its way out. Nonemphatic, nonreferring enig is disappearing, whereas emphatic enig is stable within a set of environments similar to those of English any or ever.
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Precursors of this paper were presented at the LOT Winterschool in Groningen, 2005, and at the Negation and Polarity Conference at the Eberhard Karls Universität in Tübingen, March 2007. I would like to thank the audience at that conference, as well as two anonymous reviewers, and Doris Penka and Hedde Zeijlstra for their comments, suggestions and criticisms. The blame for all errors and omissions, however, lies entirely with me.
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Hoeksema, J. Dutch ENIG: from nonveridicality to downward entailment. Nat Lang Linguist Theory 28, 837–859 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-010-9110-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11049-010-9110-4