摘要：Proper names are usually assumed to be definite. In this paper we question this assumption by analyzing the Spanish construction un tal ‘X’ ‘a certain ‘X’’. We show that ‘ un tal ‘X’ ’ has two meanings, one evidential and one evaluative, and with the evidential meaning the determiner must be indefinite. In those conditions, ‘X’ is always a proper name. We argue that proper names usually involve a presuppositional, familiar referent, expressed through the definite determiner. However, evidentiality conflicts with familiarity, hence the definite is no longer possible. Finally, we argue that proper names are licensed by features from a hierarchy that applies either to the referential base, yielding person licensing, or to an evidential base, producing sequences such as un tal ‘X’ .
