{"title":"随遇而安","authors":"P. Duffley, P. Larrivée","doi":"10.1163/18773109-01202002","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\n The meaning of indefinites of the wh-ever paradigm has been the object of a number of claims regarding its ignorance and indifference readings. These are examined here in the light of a systematic analysis of 2500 occurrences of the wh-ever paradigm in the Brigham-Young-University TV-corpus. Contrary to general assumptions, ignorance and indifference readings are not separate, as they are found jointly in 27 % of occurrences. Each reading is sensitive to contextual cues: ignorance associates with animacy, and is compatible with plural nouns; indifference associates with independent use, subtrigging by modals and singular nouns. Finally, scalarity is not a dominant dimension of the wh-items’ interpretation, being associated with subtrigging by modal expressions and focus stress, and requiring an indifference reading. These items are defined as evoking an unidentified referent requiring identification belonging to an open-ended series of possibilities.","PeriodicalId":43536,"journal":{"name":"International Review of Pragmatics","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2000,"publicationDate":"2020-08-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18773109-01202002","citationCount":"6","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Whatever floats your boat\",\"authors\":\"P. Duffley, P. Larrivée\",\"doi\":\"10.1163/18773109-01202002\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"\\n The meaning of indefinites of the wh-ever paradigm has been the object of a number of claims regarding its ignorance and indifference readings. These are examined here in the light of a systematic analysis of 2500 occurrences of the wh-ever paradigm in the Brigham-Young-University TV-corpus. Contrary to general assumptions, ignorance and indifference readings are not separate, as they are found jointly in 27 % of occurrences. Each reading is sensitive to contextual cues: ignorance associates with animacy, and is compatible with plural nouns; indifference associates with independent use, subtrigging by modals and singular nouns. Finally, scalarity is not a dominant dimension of the wh-items’ interpretation, being associated with subtrigging by modal expressions and focus stress, and requiring an indifference reading. These items are defined as evoking an unidentified referent requiring identification belonging to an open-ended series of possibilities.\",\"PeriodicalId\":43536,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"International Review of Pragmatics\",\"volume\":\"1 1\",\"pages\":\"\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":0.2000,\"publicationDate\":\"2020-08-19\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1163/18773109-01202002\",\"citationCount\":\"6\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"International Review of Pragmatics\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"1085\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01202002\",\"RegionNum\":0,\"RegionCategory\":null,\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"0\",\"JCRName\":\"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Review of Pragmatics","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/18773109-01202002","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
The meaning of indefinites of the wh-ever paradigm has been the object of a number of claims regarding its ignorance and indifference readings. These are examined here in the light of a systematic analysis of 2500 occurrences of the wh-ever paradigm in the Brigham-Young-University TV-corpus. Contrary to general assumptions, ignorance and indifference readings are not separate, as they are found jointly in 27 % of occurrences. Each reading is sensitive to contextual cues: ignorance associates with animacy, and is compatible with plural nouns; indifference associates with independent use, subtrigging by modals and singular nouns. Finally, scalarity is not a dominant dimension of the wh-items’ interpretation, being associated with subtrigging by modal expressions and focus stress, and requiring an indifference reading. These items are defined as evoking an unidentified referent requiring identification belonging to an open-ended series of possibilities.