scholarly journals The partitive marker in Basque, and its relation to bare nouns and the definite article

2021 ◽  
pp. 319-356
Author(s):  
Urtzi Etxeberria
Keyword(s):  
Definite Article ◽  
Bare Nouns

Articulated Definiteness without Articles

2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jenks
Keyword(s):  
Subject Position ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Bare Nominal ◽  
Type Shifting

While it lacks a definite article, Mandarin makes a principled distinction between unique and anaphoric definites: unique definites are realized with a bare noun, and anaphoric definites are realized with a demonstrative, except in subject position. The following proposals account for these facts: (a) bare nouns achieve definite interpretations via a last-resort type-shifting operator ι, which has a unique definite meaning; (b) demonstratives can occur as anaphoric definites because they have a semantic argument beyond their nominal restriction that can be filled by an index; and (c) bare nominal subjects are topics. A principle called Index! requires that indexical expressions be used whenever possible. Mandarin is contrasted with Cantonese, which, like English, is shown to have access to an ambiguous definite article.

Bare Nominals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bert Le Bruyn ◽  
Henriëtte de Swart ◽  
Joost Zwarts
Keyword(s):  
Definite Article ◽  
Count Nouns ◽  
Narrow Scope ◽  
Bare Plurals ◽  
Nominal Structure ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Bare Nominal ◽  
Bare Nominals ◽  
Made In ◽  
Generic Sentences

Bare nominals (also called “bare nouns”) are nominal structures without an overt article or other determiner. The distinction between a bare noun and a noun that is part of a larger nominal structure must be made in context: Milk is a bare nominal in I bought milk, but not in I bought the milk. Bare nouns have a limited distribution: In subject or object position, English allows bare mass nouns and bare plurals, but not bare singular count nouns (*I bought table). Bare singular count nouns only appear in special configurations, such as coordination (I bought table and chairs for £182). From a semantic perspective, it is noteworthy that bare nouns achieve reference without the support of a determiner. A full noun phrase like the cookies refers to the maximal sum of cookies in the context, because of the definite article the. English bare plurals have two main interpretations: In generic sentences they refer to the kind (Cookies are sweet), in episodic sentences they refer to some exemplars of the kind (Cookies are in the cabinet). Bare nouns typically take narrow scope with respect to other scope-bearing operators like negation. The typology of bare nouns reveals substantial variation, and bare nouns in languages other than English may have different distributions and meanings. But genericity and narrow scope are recurring features in the cross-linguistic study of bare nominals.

scholarly journals Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Barton ◽  
Nadine Kolb ◽  
Tanja Kupisch
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Bare Nouns

AbstractThis study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article in German with plural nominals that have a generic reading . In Standard German, genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (

scholarly journals Estudo da interlíngua de surdos usuários de Língua de Sinais Brasileira na aquisição de português (L2): nominais nus e definidos genéricos (Study of the interlanguage of deafs, users of Brazilian Sign Language, in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese )

2010 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heloisa Maria Moreira Lima-Salles ◽  
Adriana Cristina Chan-Vianna
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Linguistic Development ◽  
L1 Transfer ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Brazilian Sign Language ◽  
Bare Nominals

O estudo examina a interlíngua de surdos (usuários de Língua de Sinais Brasileira) aprendizes de português como segunda língua, considerando, em particular, a manifestação de definidos genéricos (no singular e no plural) e de nominais nus (no singular). A alta frequência de nominal nu no singular é analisada como transferência de L1, já que a LSB não possui artigos. Partindo-se da hipótese de que a categoria de número é interpretável no DP definido genérico, propõe-se que o desenvolvimento linguístico ocorre mediante o mapeamento de propriedades morfo(fono)lógicas do artigo definido (plural) na projeção do núcleo funcional Número. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Aquisição de língua. Língua de sinais brasileira. Português L2. Definido genérico. Nominal nu.ABSTRACT The study examines the interlanguage of deafs (users of the Brazilian Sign Language) learning Portuguese as a second language. In particular, the manifestation of bare nominals (in the singular) and definite generics (in the singular and in the plural) is taken into consideration. The high frequency of singular bare nouns is analysed as L1 transfer, given that LSB does not have (definite) articles. Assuming that number is an interpretable feature on the generic definite DP, it is proposed that the linguistic development takes place through the syntactic mapping of morpho(phono)logical properties of the (plural) definite article on the functional head Number. KEYWORDS: Language acquisition. Brazilian Sign Language. L2 Portuguese. Definite generics. Bare noun.

scholarly journals Inalienable Possession in Swedish and Danish – A Diachronic Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-45
Author(s):  
Alicja Piotrowska ◽  
Dominika Skrzypek
Keyword(s):  
Body Part ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Old Swedish ◽  
Bare Nouns

AbstractIn this paper we discuss the alienability splits in two Mainland Scandinavian languages, Swedish and Danish, in a diachronic context. Although it is not universally acknowledged that such splits exist in modern Scandinavian languages, many nouns typically included in inalienable structures such as kinship terms, body part nouns and nouns describing culturally important items show different behaviour from those considered alienable. The differences involve the use of (reflexive) possessive pronouns vs. the definite article, which differentiates the Scandinavian languages from e.g. English. As the definite article is a relatively new arrival in the Scandinavian languages, we look at when the modern pattern could have evolved by a close examination of possessive structures with potential inalienables in Old Swedish and Old Danish. Our results reveal that to begin with, inalienables are usually bare nouns and come to be marked with the definite article in the course of its grammaticalization.

Bare classifier/noun alternations in the Jinyun (Wu) variety of Chinese and the encoding of definiteness

Linguistics ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Study ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Personal Relations ◽  
Classifier Languages ◽  
Individual Entity ◽  
Bare Nouns ◽  
Numeral Classifier ◽  
Cross Reference ◽  
Definite Reference

Abstract Certain numeral classifier languages allow for the combination of a classifier and a noun to represent a definite individual/entity when no numeral accompanies the classifier (Vietnamese, Bangla, Oriya, Hmong, varieties of Chinese). In many instances, such a patterning alternates with the use of a bare noun to reference definite individuals/entities, but there has been little systematic study of such alternations, and whether the “bare classifier” and “bare noun” patterns are in free variation or encode different aspects of definite reference. The current paper argues for the latter conclusion with a detailed study of the Jinyun variety of Chinese, showing that bare classifier and bare noun patterns are used to highlight different aspects of “definiteness.” The bare classifier pattern dominates cases of anaphoric definite reference, bridging cross-reference, reference to salient visible entities and non-speaker kin terms and personal relations, while bare nouns are used predominantly for individuals and entities perceived to be specifically unique or directly connected to the speaker. This distribution interestingly shows strong parallels to the way that languages with more than one definite article use such elements for definite reference.

Segment–zero alternations in Galician definite article allomorphy

2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-170
Author(s):  
Shanti Ulfsbjorninn
Keyword(s):  
Specific Pattern ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Theoretical Discussion

AbstractGalician presents an intriguing case of opaque phonologically-conditioned definite article allomorphy (PCA). Though Galician features in the general literature on PCA (Nevins 2011), there is a surprising lack of synchronic theoretical discussion of this specific pattern. The data appears to require allomorph selection arranged in a system of Priority (Mascaró 2005; Bonet et al. 2003; 2007). The pattern involves opaque segment ‘deletion’ and resyllabification, where segment deletion counterbleeds allomorph insertion along with morphologically-specific segmental changes. A Strict CV representational reanalysis is proposed in which there is no true allomorphy (no selection between competing underlying morphemes). All the forms are generated from a single underlying form, thereby undercutting PRIORITY.

Zum Augment neuägyptischer Verbalformen

2019 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 139-164
Author(s):  
Carsten Peust
Keyword(s):  
Initial Position ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Verb Forms

“On the Augment of Late Egyptian Verb Forms” -- It is shown that the augment which is characteristic of certain nominal verb forms of Late Egyptian – and survives in a few traces up until Coptic – contains none of those vowels that were regularly admitted at the beginning of Egyptian words. Rather, it must continue a wordinternal vowel /ǝ/ that moved into the initial position by a misdivision of the proclitic definite article, which frequently preceded participles and relative forms in speech. The same vowel [ǝ] occurred as an epenthetic sound before the preposition ‹r› /r/ ~ [ǝr], from which only ǝ remained after its consonantal body got lost. These phonetic insights prove that the Late Egyptian augment cannot derive from the Old Egyptian augment, as has been contended, but is a genuine innovation of Late Egyptian. Finally, the rise of unetymological initial vowels in various other nouns such as ⲉϭⲱϣ (“Nubian”) and ⲉϩⲟⲟⲩ (Bohairic for “day”) is explained.

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