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This chapter introduces and motivates the research topics. The centrality of indefinite pronouns and determiners for a number of theoretical questions concerning the grammar of nominal phrases is discussed, and it is argued that a diachronic analysis may help shed light on some of the categories involved. The comparative study of diachronies, which is approached by analyzing the historical processes that took place from Latin to the Romance languages, promises to disclose new perspectives on the determinants of variation. At the same time, the phenomena observed in the empirical domain of indefinites are strong indicators of the fact that change at the syntax-semantics interface also proceeds systematically and follows recurrent patterns, as has been shown for phonological and syntactic change. The chapter discusses which challenges we face in this respect, and what can be gained when the theoretical analysis of variation is combined with the investigation of the diachronic dimension.

In Spanish, the expression un servidor — "servant" — is commonly used to make reference to the speaker of an utterance, but it displays the third-person features of a regular determiner phrase. the author shows that, despite being headed by an indefinite determiner, un servidor has the distribution of definite phrases and it is excluded from existential contexts in its first-person interpretation. This supports the idea, put forth in Collins and Postal (2012), that full DPs that make reference to participants of the speech act contain a covert pronoun. The chapter proposes that the DPs that can enter these imposter structures must refer to capacities, and as such, have to be related to a particular situation that is deictically anchored to the speech act.

Explanations of the grammatical reflexes of the Arabic particle šī, especially in interrogation and negation, are generally mistaken on two counts: they begin their developmental sequences (clines) with the Arabic of writing, and they propose structures that, while appearing to be well-formed, are nevertheless not idiomatic. Assuming an origin in the Arabic of writing is especially perilous because, without supporting evidence, it assumes that that variety is the original, when the gatekeepers of Arabic writing proscribe the types of change proposed for the spoken language that are supposed to have originated with it. Consideration of the many grammatical functions of šī provides contrary evidence that the phenomena were always elements of the dialects, arising independently of and probably before writing.

Negation gives rise to complex issues of syntactic polarity marking and directionality of monotone inference, and forces certain decisions in the semantics. Polarity is of great practical importance in computing entailment. This chapter explains how polarity-marked strings can be derived monotonically and in a single pass. It looks at examples of polarized determiners, such as the singular existential some, and considers categories for some that impose positive polarity on the raised argument. The chapter also analyzes the universal quantifier determiners every and each and their relatives, which are syntactically polarized similarly to some. Finally, it discusses indefinite determiners, the polarity of pronouns, multiple negation, negative-concord dialects of English, and negative scope and coordination.

Similarities between southern peninsular Arabic dialects and the Modern South Arabian languages support a southern pre-diaspora origin for the Arabic dialects negating and interrogating with reflexes of šī. Most share an existential particle analogous to the Arabic šī found in Yemeni, Omani, and Syrian varieties, at least, and Mehri possesses an indefinite determiner śi that functions exactly like the analogous Arabic šī. Southern Arabic speakers were probably in the Fertile Crescent as early as seven centuries before Islam and maybe twice that many, ample time for a southern Arabic feature to become established in the Levant. Current dialect distributions probably originate in the displacement of the old southern Arab Christian elite by Arabic-speaking Muslims from Central Arabia.