Semi-fake indexicals in Russian

Daniel Tiskin
HSE University, St. Petersburg / Institute of Linguistic Studies RAS

Abstract: There are several rival theories of fake indexicals, i.e. bound indexicals (prominently pronouns) whose φ-features do not semantically contribute to focus alternatives (e.g. Only Mary did her homework, John didn’t do his). According to Minimal Pronoun theories (such as Kratzer’s or Wurmbrand’s), bound pronouns are Merged without φ-features and acquire them under binding via agreement-like processes, while free (including coreferential) pronouns have their features lexically. I show that in Russian, examples with two alternative-introducing operators can be constructed where the pronoun is interpreted strictly w.r.t. the lower operator but sloppily w.r.t. the higher one, thus leading to a contradiction on the Minimal Pronouns analysis. I suggest a way to analyse such cases using Focus Binding assuming a (dubious) unpronounced focus on the pronoun, and a modification of that account where the role of focus is played by a null but segmental operator.

Keywords: φ-features, binding, fake indexicals, focus particles, minimal pronouns, Russian

For citation: Tiskin D. Semi-fake indexicals in Russian. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2025. Vol. 8, iss. 1. Pp. 112–129.
doi:10.37632/PI.2025.32.22.006