Reference, determiners and descriptive content
-
Thorstein Fretheim
Abstract
This paper starts out arguing that Gundel et al.’s claim that whatever a demonstrative can do, a definite article can do equally well is in need of revision. Then, against the tenor of Gundel et al.’s Givenness Hierarchy model, we postulate a univocal lexical meaning for determiners and corresponding pronouns in Norwegian, but we also show that what appears to be a conflation of definite article and distal demonstrative determiner in certain syntactic environments in Norwegian is two distinct linguistic phenomena in spoken Norwegian, and finally we argue that segmentally identical determiners and pronouns in the Niger-Congo language Akan are semantically distinct lexemes.
Abstract
This paper starts out arguing that Gundel et al.’s claim that whatever a demonstrative can do, a definite article can do equally well is in need of revision. Then, against the tenor of Gundel et al.’s Givenness Hierarchy model, we postulate a univocal lexical meaning for determiners and corresponding pronouns in Norwegian, but we also show that what appears to be a conflation of definite article and distal demonstrative determiner in certain syntactic environments in Norwegian is two distinct linguistic phenomena in spoken Norwegian, and finally we argue that segmentally identical determiners and pronouns in the Niger-Congo language Akan are semantically distinct lexemes.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- The editors ix
- Introduction xi
- Determiners and definiteness: Functional semantics and structural differentiation 1
- Articles, definite and indefinite 27
- Typological correlations in nominal determination in Romance 45
- A stranger in the house: The French article de 65
- Determination in endocentric and exocentric languages: With evidence primarily from Danish and Italian 79
- Bare predicate nominals in Romance languages 101
- Definiteness effect and the role of the coda in existential constructions 131
- Determination of N2 modifiers in Spanish nominal syntagmatic compounds 163
- Reference to individuals, person, and the variety of mapping parameters 189
- English th - forms 213
- Stating the case for þ - root and hw - root determiners 233
- On certain differences between noun phrases and clauses 265
- Determination, nominalisation and conceptual processing 287
- The semantics and pragmatics of the possessive determiner 309
- Reference, determiners and descriptive content 337
- Index 365
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Contributors vii
- The editors ix
- Introduction xi
- Determiners and definiteness: Functional semantics and structural differentiation 1
- Articles, definite and indefinite 27
- Typological correlations in nominal determination in Romance 45
- A stranger in the house: The French article de 65
- Determination in endocentric and exocentric languages: With evidence primarily from Danish and Italian 79
- Bare predicate nominals in Romance languages 101
- Definiteness effect and the role of the coda in existential constructions 131
- Determination of N2 modifiers in Spanish nominal syntagmatic compounds 163
- Reference to individuals, person, and the variety of mapping parameters 189
- English th - forms 213
- Stating the case for þ - root and hw - root determiners 233
- On certain differences between noun phrases and clauses 265
- Determination, nominalisation and conceptual processing 287
- The semantics and pragmatics of the possessive determiner 309
- Reference, determiners and descriptive content 337
- Index 365
