Non-specific and dependent indefinites: When -nibud’ meets po

Abstract

This contribution examines two classes of special indefinites, non-specific and dependent, with a focus on Russian, which features both a wh-based non-specific indefinite (-nibud’) and a dependent indefinite (po). The first part of the work shows how these two types of indefinites share various distributional similarities and constraints, yet differ in terms of which operators license them. The second part presents a formal analysis couched in a team semantics framework that treats non-specific indefinites as requiring evaluation-level plurality (variation) and dependent indefinites as being dependent on their licensor (informational dependence). This formalization captures the empirical patterns in Russian and unifies insights from prior analyses, accounting for differences in scopal behavior, (in)compatibility with modal operators, and interactions with plurality and distributivity.