A new kind of epistemic indefinite

Abstract

Tiwa (Tibeto-Burman; India) has two series of epistemic indefinites: one whose
epistemic effects arise via an anti-singleton constraint similar to Spanish alg´un (Alonso-Ovalle
and Men´endez-Benito, 2010), and another, wide-scope indefinite whose epistemic effects must
be derived differently. I propose that for these latter indefinites, ignorance arises not through
domain constraints, but as a result of their choice functional nature through competition with
other indefinites. Tiwa’s wide scope indefinites then constitute a new kind of epistemic indefinite,
showing that ignorance implicatures for indefinites can arise through different sorts of
competition.
Keywords: epistemic indefinites, wide scope indefinites, choice functions, implicature, Tiwa.