The Pragmatic Dimension of Indefinites
Paul Dekker

Abstract:
This paper sets out to give a natural pragmatic explanation of several
aspects of the interpretation of singular indefinite noun phrases. We
develop a uniform account of characteristic features of their use
which have been dealt with only partly in other semantic paradigms (in
particular the dynamic, the E-type and the choice function one). We
give an intuitive motivation for the familiar discourse dynamic
features of the use of these expressions, and, taking due account of
the structuring of information in more involved contexts, account for
their behaviour in negated, conditional, quantified, and intensional
constructions.