The Semantics of Determiners

3.2.3 Vreun indefinites
The last marked indefinite to be discussed here is the case of vreun. The exact conditions governing its distribution and interpretation are too complex to be reviewed here in detail but see Farkas (2002b) and (2006) for relevant discussion. As shown in Farkas (2006), the meaning area occupied in English by the determiner any is divided between at least two zones: the existential, which is the domain of vreun, and the universal, which is the domain of orice.

(65) a. You may take any apple.

Poţi lua orice măr.
can.II take O-any apple

b. If any student leaves I will be upset.

Dacă pleacă vreun student, voi fi supărat.
if leaves V-a student will.I be upset

c. Do you have any books about Cluj?

Aveţi vreo carte despre Cluj?
have V-a.Fem book about C.

d. Paul left without answering any question.

Paul a plecat fără să răspundă la vreo întrebare.
P. has left without Subj answer at v-a.Fem question

The example in (65a) makes clear that each apple in a contextually salient bunch is a permitted choice for the addressee. This is a typical environment for a ‘universal’ FC item: each element of the set denoted by the NP sister of the determiner in turn is a verifying value for the discourse referent introduced by the D. In (65b), on the other hand, the speaker claims he will be upset if there is a student (no matter which student) who leaves. This reading has been associated with existential force and we see vreun used here. In (65c) the question is whether the addressee is in a possession of some book -- any book -- about Cluj. In (65d) it is claimed that there was no question Paul answered. In Romanian the negative nici un could have been used instead of vreun here. The difference is very slight. The negative indefinite is more emphatic and more likely to be used in case the context has already established that there was a set of questions Paul was expected to answer. Common to all cases of vreun we have seen so far is association with existential force.²⁴

Things are complicated by the fact that we encounter vreun not only as the close relative of existential ‘free choice’ any but also as the equivalent of English ‘some NP or other’ in environments that do not license any. We exemplify in (66) and (67):

(66) Din cînd în cînd trenul se oprea în vreo haltă şi cîte un

from when in when train.Def Refl. stopped in V-a.Fem station and each a
navetist deschidea un ochi. (Farkas 2002b, (15d), p. 137)
commuter open.Imp. an eye
‘From time to time, the train would stop in some station and a commuter would open
an eye.’

(67) In balta din spatele cantonului, ceva plescăi scurt,

in pond.Def. from back.Def station.Def.Dat something splashed briefly