Defining a monster-operator

Abstract

This article reviews the literature related to a particular kind of operator present in natural language s, i.e. the “monster operator”. This operator can shift the context of evaluation of indexicals in its scope. Kaplan (1989) initially denied its existence, but later authors, such as Schlenker (2003) and Anand (2006), argue that such operators do exist in natural languages. However, throughout the literature, we see different definitions of that operator. In this paper, after we introduce the concept of monster operator and defend its existence based on data from the Brazilian Portuguese, we argue in favor of a definition that is wider, similar to that first one proposed by Kaplan (1989). Data from the Brazilian Portuguese will be crucial to defending our position.