Varieties of indefinites in Cantonese

Abstract

We focus on the semantics of three types of Cantonese nominal constructions that can refer to indefinite referents. We argue that the indefinite interpretation is derived by a different semantic mechanism in each construction. The evidence for this claim comes from the different behavior of these constructions in terms of their scope-taking characteristics and their (in)compatibility with specific indefinite interpretations. Specifically, we make the following claims: (i) [BARE N] phrases denote type ⟨e,t⟩ properties, and get an indefinite interpretation via type-shifting, (ii) [CL N] and ['jat1' CL N] phrases are choice-functional indefinites, and (iii) the choice-function variable in [CL N] phrases can be left unbound, allowing for definite as well as (specific) indefinite uses, depending on context.