Neutralizing Free Choice Items via Maximal Domain Restriction: Farsi -i Indefinites

Abstract

This paper identifies two types of free choice items (FCIs) in Farsi: yek-i DPs and har -i DPs. Their distribution and interpretation pose a puzzle: yek -i DPs pattern with other existential FCIs, and har -i DPs with other universal FCIs, but both items lose their prototypical FCI behavior when they combine with the accusative marker -ro. The paper shows that the loss of FCI behavior follows from an alternative-based analysis of FCIs (Chierchia 2013) under some assumptions about the semantic effect of -ro. The analysis parallels the explanation for the loss of FCI status of Spanish algunos presented in Alonso-Ovalle & Menéndez-Benito 2011 in that it also relies on the derivation of alternatives that are equivalent to the assertion, hence not excludable.