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Slovo a slovesnost


Issue no.4 /2009


Publisher:

Ústav pro jazyk český Akademie věd České republiky

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 Articles 
    
Obsah    
Předmluva [k monotematickému číslu Čeština za zrcadlem formální gramatiky]    
Jak přehlédnout jeden druhého: příběh alternací vokálů s nulou ve slovanských jazycích a ve fonologii řízení    
Ke vzniku fázových sufixů v češtině aneb Jak se domček změnil v domeček    
Syntaktická operace spojení (merge)    
Poznámky k syntaxi předložky před    
Dvě funkce klitiky se: různé, a přece stejné    
Syntactic restrictions on infinitival imperatives in Czech    
Možnosti generativní klasifikace infinitivu    
Dvojitá prefixace a sémantika sloves pohybu    
Lambda-abstrakce a neurčitá zájmena v úzkém a širokém ohnisku    
Translated Title: Lambda-abstraction and indefinite pronouns in narrow and broad focus
Publication: Slovo a slovesnost (4/2009)
Author Name: Šimík, Radek;
Language: Czech
Subject: Philology / Linguistics
Issue: 4/2009
Page Range: 342-352
No. of Pages: 11
File size: 92 KB
Download Fee: 3 Euro (€)
Summary: Czech indefinite pronouns like někdo ‘someone’ (unlike indefinite nouns like peníze ‘money’) cannot be pronounced in their base (postverbal) position unless they are interpreted as narrowly focused. Broad focus (focus on the whole verb phrase) is only facilitated with indefinite pronouns in a derived (preverbal) position. The analysis in this paper makes use of the fact that Czech indefinite pronouns are morphologically related to wh-words. It is argued that wh-words in Czech denote lambda-operators, which are viewed as functions from truth values to predicates. It follows that wh-words (and indefinite pronouns) must be interpreted in the sister-node of an expression denoting a truth value and therefore can never be interpreted in their base position. Finally, it is suggested how the analysis could be used to account for the behavior of the indefinite pronoun kdokoliv ‘anyone’, which is (under certain conditions) interpreted as a free choice item in a narrow focus (postverbal) position and as a negative polarity item in a broad focus (preverbal) position.
Keywords: wh-words; indefinite pronouns; free choice and negative polarity phenomenon; narrow and broad focus; lambda-abstraction; type-theory
Obsah ročníku 70/2009 & Impressum