Abstract
In the literature on generic nominal reference, it is usually pointed out that in
Russian, both singular and plural nominal expressions can have a generic reference
(Chierchia 1998; Doron 2003; Dayal 2004). The main contribution of this article is
to propose an explicit analysis for composing definite kinds from bare nominals
in this language. We provide independent empirical support for the definiteness
of apparent bare nominals in argument position of kind-level predicates and argue
that definiteness is to be associated with a null D(eterminer), interpreted as the
iota operator. The general hypothesis we defend is that definite kinds, even in a
language without articles such as Russian, encode definiteness semantically and
syntactically.
Russian, both singular and plural nominal expressions can have a generic reference
(Chierchia 1998; Doron 2003; Dayal 2004). The main contribution of this article is
to propose an explicit analysis for composing definite kinds from bare nominals
in this language. We provide independent empirical support for the definiteness
of apparent bare nominals in argument position of kind-level predicates and argue
that definiteness is to be associated with a null D(eterminer), interpreted as the
iota operator. The general hypothesis we defend is that definite kinds, even in a
language without articles such as Russian, encode definiteness semantically and
syntactically.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Definiteness across languages |
| Editors | A. Aguilar-Guevara, J. Pozas, V. Vázquez-Rojas |
| Publisher | LangSci series |
| Pages | 293-318 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 21 Jun 2019 |
Publication series
| Name | LangSci series "Studies in Diversity Linguistics" |
|---|