The syntax and compositional semantics of English ONE

In this paper, I analyse the syntax and compositional semantics of the unity cardinal one in English. I argue that the three different uses of one, namely as a determiner, as a DP pronoun and as a prosortal can be accounted for with a single, monosemic analysis. It will be argued that an NP-ellipsis account is not able to provide a unified account of the major uses. However, it will be argued that anaphoric uses of one always involve predicate anaphora. Therefore, a variable-free semantics will be adopted, and it will be shown that in such a framework, one can indeed provide a uniform account for all three uses, using type-shifting operations and Skolem-functions.