Skip to main content
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Genericity from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Published/Copyright: July 27, 2005
Linguistics
From the journal Volume 43 Issue 2

Abstract

In this article, I will investigate genericity from a cross-linguistic perspective. After discussing some methodological and theoretical problems involved in this task, I will present a multidimensional approach, arguing that it is necessary to factor apart different types of information involved in the notion of genericity. In the empirical part, generic marking and interpretation in the nominal domain will be analyzed in terms of this approach for five languages: English, German, French, Hungarian, and Greek. As a result, I will claim a fundamental typological difference between QUALITY-marking languages (English) and DISCOURSE REFERENT-marking languages (French, Hungarian, Greek), with German representing a mixed type between the two.

:
Correspondence address: Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft, Institut für Linguistik, Universität zu Köln, D-50923 Köln. E-mail: .
Published Online: 2005-07-27
Published in Print: 2005-03-11

© Walter de Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Focus in Double Object Constructions
  2. Genericity from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
  3. Toward a Semantic Account of that-Deletion in English
  4. On Mass Denotations of Bare Nouns in Japanese and Korean
  5. Semantic Change in Word Formation
  6. Sebastian Löbner: Understanding Semantics.
https://doi.org/10.1515/ling.2005.43.2.275

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Focus in Double Object Constructions
  2. Genericity from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective
  3. Toward a Semantic Account of that-Deletion in English
  4. On Mass Denotations of Bare Nouns in Japanese and Korean
  5. Semantic Change in Word Formation
  6. Sebastian Löbner: Understanding Semantics.
Downloaded on 29.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/ling.2005.43.2.275/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button