Syntactic change/

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:53 PM -0400 4/20/06, Baker, John wrote:
>         Jon has a low threshold for signs of the apocalypse. I've heard
>versions of this for some time, and I'm always struck by it as an
>example of ambiguity in ordinary language.  "Any 32-bit CPU doesn't fit
>your needs" can mean either "no 32-bit CPU fits your needs" or "not
>every 32-bit CPU fits your needs."  (In this case, of course, the
>lead-in makes it clear that the former meaning is intended.)

--and the "free choice" reading in the second case tends to be marked
by heavy stress on "ANY" (although stress is compatible with the
"not...any" reading too).  Various corpora I've seen have quite a
number of "any...not" hits, although they do strike a lot of people
as odd to deviant even in context.

Larry

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