scholarly journals Categories of definiteness in Classical Armenian

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angelika Müth
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Definite Articles

In this paper, the use of the definite article in semantic and pragmatic categories in the Greek and Classical Armenian New Testament translation is compared. Greek and Classical Armenian agree in their use of the definite article only in NPs determined by contrastive attributes. In all other categories the systems of both languages differ. Generally, Armenian avoids the definite article with proper nouns and nouns with unique reference, while definite articles with proper names in Greek are common (with the exception of sacred or especially “respected” persons such as prophets). If the definite article is present in Greek, it is often motivated by pragmatic factors (e.g. re-topicalization, etc.). There is no clear evidence in Armenian for the use of the definite article as a marker of generic reference, nor for the use in NPs determined by superlative, comparative or ordinal attributes.

scholarly journals Definiteness

Linguistics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus von Heusinger
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Computational Linguistics ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Analytic Philosophy ◽  
Noun Phrases ◽  
Definite Descriptions ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Linguistic Structure ◽  
Definite Expressions

Definiteness is a semantic-pragmatic notion that is closely associated with the use of the definite article (or determiner) in languages like English, Hungarian, Hebrew, and Lakhota. The definite article can be used in different conditions: deictic, anaphoric, unique, and certain indirect uses, often also called “bridging uses.” Accordingly, there are different semantic theories of definiteness, such as the salience theory, the familiarity or identifiability theory, and the uniqueness or inclusiveness theory. Definite expressions cover personal pronouns, proper names, demonstratives, definite noun phrases, and universally quantified expressions. Noun phrases with the definite article, known as “definite descriptions,” are a key issue in semantics and analytic philosophy with respect to the interaction of reference and description in identifying an object. The research and analysis of definiteness is of great importance not only for the linguistic structure of languages but also for our understanding of reference and referring in philosophy, cognitive science, computational linguistics, and communication science.

PROPER NAME IN SYNCHRONISTIC COINCIDENCES

2021 ◽  
pp. 75-87
Author(s):  
G.I. Berestnev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
Deep Structure ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Physical Reality ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Personal Names ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Cognitive Attitudes

The article launches a new approach to studying coincident proper names in different cultural conditions - names viewed in a synchronistic perspective, in the Jungian sense. The paper purports to answer a number of questions adding to the theory of language, depth psychology and cognitive science. The main research methods, such as cognitive analysis and reconstruction, allow recovering data on deep cognitive attitudes of a person and possible connections of his/her mental sphere with physical reality. In this regard, the functional and cognitive nature of proper names is analyzed. It is determined by a number of characteristics that form the basis for further research. The paper further elaborates on the conditions and models of synchronistic coincidences of proper nouns (mostly personal names). The identified conditions and models are as follows: a) thematic seriality of personal names; b) their cross-matching; c) their systemic parallel matching; d) their complete coincidence in space and time; e) their promising coincidences in fortune telling; f) coincidence of ideal and real personal names; g) coincidences of personal names “framing” certain historical epochs; h) coincidences of proper names, removing the referential certainty of the named subjects. The data presented in the article made it possible to make some generalizations and to outline research prospects in this area. First of all, researching proper names from the point of view of synchronistic coincidences allows us to have an insight into human cognition and shed light on its deep structure. In addition, such studies have interdisciplinary significance bringing cognitive linguistics and the fundamental sciences closer together. Finally, the analysis of synchronistic coincidences of proper names allows us to reconstruct some deep cognitive attitudes in the human psyche, demonstrating the unity of mental and physical realities. Even more promising in this regard is the unification of cognitive linguistics with other advanced scientific disciplines engaged in this issue.

Russian proper nouns derived from a Roman praenomen

Proglas ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergana Petkova ◽  
◽  
Vanya Ivanova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Ancient Rome ◽  
Proper Noun ◽  
Feminine Gender ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Catholic Tradition

The present paper examines Russian proper nouns of both masculine and feminine gender, which are derived from a Roman praenomen. Our main goal has been to present these proper names in their entirety, together with their etymology. The excerpted onyms are grouped according to the appellative or the anthroponym from which they are derived. Another classification, based on extralinguistic information about the canonization of proper names, is also included: it takes into account its origin, i.e. when a Russian anthroponym is derived from a saint’s name in the Orthodox or the Catholic tradition, or when it is recognized by and exists in the canons of both churches. A brief review of the proper-noun system in Ancient Rome – and the role of Roman praenomens in it – is also provided. Special attention has been paid to the etymology of the praenomens.

scholarly journals Of nouns, and kinds, and properties, and why one D is null or not

2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 259-288
Author(s):  
Diana Guillemin
Keyword(s):  
Direct Consequence ◽  
Linguistic Variation ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Bare Nominal ◽  
Null Element ◽  
Definite Articles ◽  
Nominal Arguments

AbstractThis paper assumes that the basic denotation of nouns can be that of kind or property and that the determiner system of a language is a direct consequence of this cross-linguistic variation. An analysis of how definiteness and specificity are marked across three languages with different determiner systems, namely, English, French and Mauritian Creole (MC), provides evidence of the co-relation between noun denotation and determiner system. Languages with kind denoting nouns (English and MC) admit bare nominal arguments, which are barred in French, whose nouns denote properties. However, English and MC differ in that English has an overt definite article, which is a lacking in MC. This null element requires licensing by an overt specificity marker in some syntactic environments. The English and MC definite articles are analyzed as operators that quantify over sets of kind denoting nouns, and they serve a different function from the French definite article, which is specified for number and selects properties.

The Transliteration of New Testament Proper Names into Zulu

1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-143
Author(s):  
Eric A. Hermanson
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Proper Names

Neurolinguistic and syntactic evidence for basic level meaning in proper names

1999 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willy Van Langendonck
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Proper Names ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Common Noun ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Lexical Meaning ◽  
The Status ◽  
Proper Name ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Basic Level

This paper is intended to be an interdisciplinary investigation of the status of proper names, although it takes linguistics as its point of departure. In this study I will define proper names in terms of the currently developing Radical Construction Grammar, as promoted by Croft (to appear). Starting from the referential and semantic functions of proper names, I discuss the opposing theses of the language philosophers John Searle and Saul Kripke, and then formulate my position that proper names are assigned an ad hoc referent in an ad hoc name-giving act, i.e. not on the basis of a concept or predication as with common nouns. This ad hoc assignment can be repeated several times, so numerous people can be called John. Proper names do not have asserted lexical meaning but do display presuppositional meanings of several kinds: categorical (basic level), associative senses (introduced either via the name-bearer or via the name-form) and grammatical meanings. Language specifically, this referential and semantic status is reflected in the occurrence of proper names in certain constructions. I thus claim that close (or 'restrictive') appositional patterns of the form [definite article + noun + noun], e.g. the poet Burns, are relevant to the definition of proper names in English and also to the categorical (often basic level) meaning of the name. From proper names we can also derive nouns that appear as a special kind of common noun, e.g. another John. From a methodological viewpoint it is imperative to distinguish here between (proprial) lexemes or lemmas in isolation (dictionary entries) and proprial lemmas in their different functions (prototypically: proper name, nonprototypically: common noun or other). To corroborate the above theses, I will adduce recent psycholinguistic and especially neurolinguistic evidence. The overall argument will be based mainly on material from Germanic languages, especially English, Dutch and German.

Réduction de Complétive à un Nom et Article Défini Générique

1993 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-97
Author(s):  
Mehryar Mohri
Keyword(s):  
Reduced Form ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
Syntactic Rule ◽  
Real Issue ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Definite Articles

The description of the conditions under which generic definite articles appear in the sentences of French is a real issue. We present here a simple syntactic rule, based on the theory of support verbs (Z. Harris 1968, M. Gross 1975), which accounts for the appearance of these articles in a particular set of sentences. In these sentences, the generic article is followed by a noun which can be associated with a support verb, and be replaced by a sentential complement of the type que S (that S). We first briefly describe a transformation which relates this sentential complement to its reduced form of simple noun. We then indicate a rule which consists in erasing the preposition de while applying this transformation. Various examples of sentences are shown in order to illustrate the wide range of application of the proposed rule. We also extend this rule to the case of sentences in which a generic definite article precedes a noun non linked with a support verb, and discuss the additional conditions required.

Weng Tung-ho jih-chi p'ai-yin-pen fu so-yin

1973 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 477-481
Author(s):  
Kung-chuan Hsiao
Keyword(s):  
Proper Names ◽  
Type A ◽  
Source Material ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Standard Type ◽  
Proper Nouns ◽  
Facsimile Edition ◽  
Commercial Press ◽  
Valuable Service

The Chinese Materials and Research Aids Center has rendered a valuable service to students of late Ch'ing Chinese history in publishing this typeset edition of Weng T'ung-ho's diary, based on the facsimile edition printed by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1925. The Center has made this important source material easier to use in several ways. The text is punctuated and printed in standard type, a boon to scholars not accustomed to unpunctuated, cursive writing; interlinear marks are inserted throughout, rendering proper names readily identifiable; corresponding Western dates (years and months but not days) are given alongside the Chinese; pages are numbered consecutively throughout the five volumes. And further to enhance the usefulness of the typeset edition, an index to essential proper nouns, geographical and personal, is to form volume 6 which, unfortunately, is not available to this reviewer.

scholarly journals The Origins and Development of the Definite Article in Egyptian-Coptic

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 223-237
Author(s):  
Maxim Kupreyev
Keyword(s):  
A Priori ◽  
Weak Form ◽  
Definite Article ◽  
Middle Kingdom ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Indefinite Article ◽  
Definite Articles ◽  
Further Development ◽  
The Way ◽  
Good Deeds

The first appearance of the emphatic demonstratives pA/tA/nA in northern Egyptian letters of the 6th Dynasty and their absence from southern Egyptian sources indicates the growing difference between the language variants spoken in these broadly defined regions. Originating from the Old Egyptian pronominal stems p-/t-/n-, the use of these new demonstratives expands rapidly during the Middle Kingdom. In their weak form as definite articles, they indicate that a noun is knownin discourse and thus signal a hitherto hidden grammatical category – definiteness. Once the definite article is grammaticalised and starts to be used with a priori definite nouns such as pA nTr wa ‘the sole god’ or pA HqA ‘the ruler’ (18th Dynasty), the indefinite article appears. The further development in Demotic and Coptic shows that the article was on the way to becoming a noun marker. When attached to a relative phrase, it created a new noun, which could be further determined (xenpetnanouf ‘some good deeds’, ppetouaab ‘the saint’). The following article traces the regional origins of the definite article as well as the main principles governing their development.

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