Numerical Approximation Using Some

Abstract

In this paper I investigate a use of the English determiner some with numerals, as in twenty-some. This kind of construction has an approximative interpretation, where it is interpreted as denoting a number within a range. Some cannot modify all numerals, with constraints that depend on the syntactic structure of the numeral. I draw parallels between this construction and epistemic indefinites, and provide an analysis based on existing analyses of Spanish algún.