Zahra Mirrazi (UMass, Amherst)

Indefinites: An Argument for Skolemization with world variables

This paper provides further evidence that indefinites are unique in their scopal behavior. I present novel data showing that a surface scope relation with indefinites under a negated intensional operator can yield a reading in which the indefinite takes intermediate scope, wider than the negation and narrower than the intensional operator, but genuine quantifiers cannot. I argue that choice functions need to to be skolemized with a world variable. I show that this skolemization mechanism can account for the intermediate scope of indefinites between intensional operator and the negation without assuming the movement of either the negation or the indefinite.