Semantics:Indefinite

English has two words for the indefinite, some and any. The differens between can be very hard to detangle if you are not aware of it.

The relation between indefinite meanings

Indefinite encompasses 9 fields where the word can differ.

• Specific Known: "Somebody called today, guess who?", Refers to an entity known to the speaker.
• Specific Unknown: "I heard something, what was it?", Refers to an entity unknown to the speaker.
• Irrealis: "You must try somewhere else", refers to an unspecific entity not being physically referred to.
• Question: "Did someone say that?", If its in a question
• Conditional Antecedent: "If you see anyone, tell me", It is in the condition of a statement
• Indirect Negation: "I don't think that anyone knows the answer", the negation is typically done at a higher level or clause.
• Direct negation: "John Didn't see anybody", The statement with the indefinite is directly negated
• Comparative: "John is taller than anybody", it is in a comparison
• Free Choice: "You can sit anywhere", Statements where the choice is free by the one involved

These are not unrelated to each other but have a semantic relation shown to the right. If a word, like English "any", covers 2 meanings connected by something else, like Question and Direct Negation that are connected through Indirect Negation, then the word itself, "any", must also contain the meaning of the thing in between, in this case indirect negation.

Indefinite Types

An important distinction to remember is that there is a differens between grammatical indefinite, "A man walked into the bar", where it is a specific entity or collection of entities but is new to the discourse and hence is introduced as indefinite, and the unspecific indefinite, "A/Any man may not walk here", which refers not to any specific entity but a general one.