Number Marking and (in)Definiteness in Kind Terms.
This paper explores the link between number marking and (in)definiteness in nominals and their interpretation. Differences between bare singulars and plurals in languages without determiners are explained by treating bare nominals as kind terms. Differences arise, it is argued, because singular and...
| Published in: | Linguistics & Philosophy Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 393 - 451 |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
Aug2004
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=17011328&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 17011328 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 01650157 OJI jtl: Linguistics & Philosophy issn: 01650157 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Aug2004 vid: 27 iid: 4 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 17011328 10.1023/B:LING.0000024420.80324.67 ppf: 393 ppct: 58 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 278KB tig: atl: Number Marking and (in)Definiteness in Kind Terms. aug: au: Dayal, Veneeta affil: Department of Linguistics Rutgers University 18 Seminary Place New Brunswick, NJ 08901 U.S.A. E-mail: su: Definiteness (Linguistics) Language & languages Comparative grammar Taxonomy Linguistics Lexical grammar sug: subj: Definiteness (Linguistics) Language & languages Comparative grammar Taxonomy Linguistics Lexical grammar ab: This paper explores the link between number marking and (in)definiteness in nominals and their interpretation. Differences between bare singulars and plurals in languages without determiners are explained by treating bare nominals as kind terms. Differences arise, it is argued, because singular and plural kinds relate differently to their instantiations. In languages with determiners, singular kinds typically occur with the definite determiner, but plural/mass kinds can be bare in some languages and definite in others. An account of singular kinds in terms of taxonomic readings is proposed, with number marking playing a crucial role in explaining the obligatory presence of the determiner. The variation between languages with respect to plural/mass kinds is explained by positing a universal scale of definiteness, with individual languages choosing different cut-off points for lexicalization of the definite determiner. The possibility of further cross-linguistic variation is also considered. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Linguistics & Philosophy is a copyright of Springer, 2004. All Rights Reserved. item: Linguistics & Philosophy holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2004 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|