‘Any’ and its French equivalents

Abstract

This paper examines whether the conceptual distinction made by anglophone philosophers of language between an existential and a universal any holds for the French equivalents of any. It argues that the distinction provides a useful basis for anglophones working towards French, by enabling a correct choice for any to be made from among its various French equivalents. Within the more general perspective of contrastive lexicology, however, the existential-universal distinction proves to be less significant in French than in English. The specific lexical realisations of any in French straddle, like any itself, the existential-universal divide, but with the exception of n'importe qui/quoi/quel(le). The existence of the latter has the effect of displacing the conceptual focus from the existential-universal contrast to nuances within the universal field.