View source for 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. 

[[File:Indefinite relation.png|600px|thumbnail|right|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.

[[Category:Semantics]]