Semantics of negative pronouns in the light of compatibility with the modifier "almost"

Abstract

This article is devoted to the analysis of the semantics of negative pronouns in the Russian language. At the moment, there are two main approaches to this issue. In the first approach, negative pronouns are considered synonyms of the indefinite pronouns 'someone', 'someone' or 'someone', used only in negative contexts (i.e., no one came = it is not true that someone came). The second approach treats them as synonymous with the quantifier 'everyone' (for example, no one came = everyone (person) didn't come). The article discusses the arguments in favor of the second version of the analysis, based on the permissibility of combining negative pronouns with the modifier 'almost' (as, for example, in the sentence 'almost no one came'). The relevance of the study is due to the lack of consensus on the correct version of the analysis of the semantics of negative pronouns. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that it presents new arguments showing that the permissibility of combinations of the type 'almost nobody' presents a problem for the analysis of negative pronouns as indefinite. Firstly, this analysis cannot simultaneously explain the permissibility of combinations like 'almost no one' and the inadmissibility of combinations like 'almost someone', 'almost anyone' and 'almost anyone'. Secondly, it is shown that this analysis requires considering 'almost' as an operator having a scope over the entire proposition, and not a separate component. However, such an analysis of the modifier 'almost' leads to the prediction of non-existent interpretations in negative sentences with numerals like 'Peter has not solved almost ten problems'. Thus, it is shown that negative pronouns are synonymous with universal quantifiers of the type 'each', and not indefinite pronouns.