The typological investigation of Indefinite pronouns - the Implicational Map of Haspelmath. Cover Image

Die typologischen Untersuchungen von Indefinitpronomina – die Implicational Map von Haspelmath
The typological investigation of Indefinite pronouns - the Implicational Map of Haspelmath.

Author(s): Magdalena Filar
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Morphology, Semantics
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: typology; indefinite pronouns; cross-linguistic comparison; implicational map; semantic functions

Summary/Abstract: The article is a brief introduction into the specifics and methodology of typological studies of indefinite pronouns, and presents the concept of an implicational map for indefinite pronoun functions, proposed by Haspelmath (1997). The implicational map identifies nine core functions (contexts) of indefinite pronouns that must be distinguished for the purposes of cross-linguistic comparison, and shows the semantic complexity of indefinite reference. The typological analysis conducted in this article focuses on the main similarities and differences in the form and meaning potential of indefinite pronouns, and is restricted to the three major types of Polish and German indefinite pronouns.

  • Issue Year: 4/2015
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 167-180
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: German