Definiteness

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "other uses". Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Sidebar/configuration' not found. In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases that distinguishes between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those that are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical definite noun phrase picks out a unique, familiar, specific referent such as the sun or Australia, as opposed to indefinite examples like an idea or some fish.

There is considerable variation in the expression of definiteness across languages, and some languages such as Japanese do not generally mark it, so the same expression can be definite in some contexts and indefinite in others. In other languages, such as English, it is usually marked by the selection of determiner (e.g., the vs. a). Still other languages, such as Danish, mark definiteness morphologically by changing the noun itself (e.g. Danish en mand (a man), manden (the man)).

Definiteness as a grammatical category

There are times when a grammatically marked definite noun phrase is not in fact identifiable. For example, the polar bear's habitat is the arctic does not refer to a unique, familiar, specific bear, in an example of a form-meaning mismatch. "The theoretical distinction between grammatical definiteness and cognitive identifiability has the advantage of enabling us to distinguish between a discrete (grammatical) and a non-discrete (cognitive) category."[1][p. 84][a]

Use in different languages

English

In English, definiteness is usually marked by the selection of determiner. Certain determiners, such as a, an, many, and some, along with numbers (e.g., four items), typically mark a noun phrase as indefinite. Others, including the, that, and genitive noun phrases (e.g., my brother) typically mark the noun phrase as definite.[2]

A number of tests have been proposed to distinguish definite from indefinite noun phrases. "Each has a foundation in intuition, as well as some degree of grammatical effect. However, it is not clear that any of them corresponds cleanly to formal categories."[3]

  1. If a noun phrase can be put into an existential clause such as there is <noun phrase> at the door (e.g., there are two wolves at the door), it is likely indefinite.[4]
  2. "The concept of identifiability expressed by the definite article is best understood in terms of pre-empting a question with which?"[2]

Other languages

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Template:Interlinear      Template:Interlinear      Template:Interlinear     or     Template:Interlinear
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  • In Arabic, the definite (Script error: No such module "Lang".) can be determined from the indefinite (Script error: No such module "Lang".) with presence of the definitive article al- (Script error: No such module "Lang".) or a possessive pronoun suffix forming an iḍāfa construction. Adjectives describing definite nouns are also marked with the definitive article al- (Script error: No such module "Lang".).[5]Template:Rp Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".) with two instances of Script error: No such module "Lang". (DEF-book-DEF-big, literally, "the book the big")
  • in Hungarian, verbs show agreement with the definiteness of their object:[5]Template:Rp
Template:Interlinear      versus      Template:Interlinear
  • in Erzya-Mordvin, verbs exhibit definite (objective) conjugation through personal-pronoun-based suffixes (eg. son "he, she, it"), while noun definiteness is marked by suffixes derived from demonstrative pronouns (eg. ťe "this"):
Template:Interlinear      versus      Template:Interlinear
  • Japanese, Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang". "I have a/the book"), is ambiguous between definite and indefinite readings.[7]

Germanic, Romance, Celtic, Semitic, and auxiliary languages generally have a definite article, often preposed but in some cases postposed. For example, Hebrew prefixes the letter he, while Aramaic suffixes the letter aleph. Many other languages do not. Some examples are Chinese, Japanese, Finnish, and modern Slavic languages except Bulgarian and Macedonian. When necessary, languages of this kind may indicate definiteness by other means such as demonstratives.[5][page needed]

In most languages, definiteness is marked only on common nouns, since proper nouns are already considered inherently definite.[citation needed] However, Biblical Hebrew shows exceptions where the definite article can be prefixed to proper nouns. This demonstrates that, unlike in most languages, Biblical Hebrew may apply overt definiteness even to proper names, possibly for emphasis or specificity.[8]

It is common for definiteness to interact with the marking of case in certain syntactic contexts. In many languages, a direct object receives distinctive marking only if it is definite. For example, in Turkish, the direct object in the sentence Script error: No such module "Lang". (meaning "I saw the man") is marked with the suffix Script error: No such module "Lang". (indicating definiteness).[5]Template:Rp The absence of the suffix on a direct object in Turkish means that it is indefinite and, in the absence of the indefinite article Script error: No such module "Lang"., no longer explicitly singular: Script error: No such module "Lang". ("I saw a man/I saw men").

In Serbo-Croatian, in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian, and, to a lesser extent in Slovene, definiteness can be expressed morphologically on prenominal adjectives.[9] The short form of the adjective is interpreted as indefinite, while the long form is definite or specific:

  • short (indefinite): Serbo-Croatian Script error: No such module "Lang". "a new city"; Lithuanian Script error: No such module "Lang". "a white book"; Latvian Script error: No such module "Lang". "a white house"
  • long (definite): Script error: No such module "Lang". "the new city, a certain new city"; Script error: No such module "Lang". "the white book, a certain white book"; Script error: No such module "Lang". "the white house"

In some languages, the definiteness of the object affects the transitivity of the verb. In the absence of peculiar specificity marking, it also tends to affect the telicity of mono-occasional predications.

In some Scandinavian languages, such as Swedish, definite nouns inflect with a dedicated set of suffixes. This is known in Swedish as the grammatical category of species.[citation needed]

See also

References

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  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lambrecht, Knud (1996). Information structure and sentence form : topic, focus, and the mental representations of discourse referents. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-316-03949-6. OCLC 1100677082.
  2. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Huddleston; Pullum (2002). Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Abbott, Barbara (2006). "Definiteness and indefiniteness". In Horn, R. L.; Ward, G (eds.). The handbook of pragmatics. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 122–149. doi:10.1002/9780470756959. ISBN 9780470756959.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Milsark, Gary (1977). "Toward an explanation of certain peculiarities of the existential construction in English". Linguistic Analysis. 3: 1–29.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Lyons, Christopher (1999). Definiteness. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36835-3.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Wagner, Jennifer. "Danish Articles and Demonstratives". ielanguages.com. Archived from the original on Oct 24, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Japanese/Grammar". Wikibooks. Archived from the original on Oct 26, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Reuven Chaim Klein (2025). "Who or What Is Argov? A Philological Survey of a Difficult Lexeme". Ḥakirah. doi:10.17613/7qw28-qkz54. ISSN 1532-1290.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Aljović, Nadira (2002). "Long adjectival inflection and specificity in Serbo-Croatian". Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes. 31 (31): 27–42. doi:10.4000/rlv.351. Retrieved 2007-03-30.

Notes

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Further reading

  • Aguilar-Guevara A, Pozas Loyo J, Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado V (eds.). 2019. Definiteness across languages. Berlin: Language Science Press. Template:ISBN. Script error: No such module "CS1 identifiers".. Open Access. http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/227.
  • Hawkins, J.A. (1978) Definiteness and indefiniteness: a study in reference and grammaticality prediction. London:Croom Helm.
  • Definite article from Glottopedia

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