Definiteness in the absence of uniqueness: The case of Russian

Daria Seres; Olga Borik

doi:10.5281/ZENODO.5483116

Definiteness in the absence of uniqueness: The case of Russian

Research output: Chapter in Book › Chapter › Research › peer-review

Abstract

This paper is devoted to the study of the interpretation of bare nominals in Russian, revisiting the issues related to their perceived definiteness or indefiniteness. We review the linguistic means of expressing definiteness in Russian, showing that none of them is sufficient to encode this meaning. Taking the uniqueness approach to definiteness as a point of departure, we explore the differences in the interpretation of definite NPs in English and in Russian, arguing that Russian bare nominals do not give rise to the presupposition of uniqueness. The perceived definiteness in Russian is analysed as a pragmatic effect (not as a result of a covert type-shift), which has the following sources: ontological uniqueness, topicality, and familiarity/anaphoricity.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Advances in formal Slavic linguistics 2018
Editors	Andreas Blümel, Jovana Gajić, Ljudmila Geist, Uwe Junghanns, Hagen Pitsch
Place of Publication	Berlín
Publisher	Language Science Press
Chapter	13
Pages	339-363
Number of pages	25
ISBN (Electronic)	978-3-96110-322-5
ISBN (Print)	978-3-98554-018-1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.5483116
Publication status	Published - 7 Sept 2021

Publication series

Name	Open Slavic Linguistics
Publisher	Language Science Press
Volume	4

Access to Document

10.5281/ZENODO.5483116Licence: CC BY

https://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/280Licence: CC BY

La interpretación de las categorías funcionales
Espinal, M. T. (Principal Investigator), Villalba Nicolas, F. X. (Principal Investigator 2), Brunetti, L. (Collaborator), Cyrino, S. (Collaborator), Etxeberria Otaegui, U. (Collaborator), Olga Borik (Collaborator), Planas-Morales, S. (Investigator), Tubau Muntaña, S. (Investigator) & Tsiakmakis , E. (Collaborator)
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation
1/01/18 → 30/09/21
Project: Research Projects and Other Grants

Cite this

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title = "Definiteness in the absence of uniqueness: The case of Russian",

abstract = "This paper is devoted to the study of the interpretation of bare nominals in Russian, revisiting the issues related to their perceived definiteness or indefiniteness. We review the linguistic means of expressing definiteness in Russian, showing that none of them is sufficient to encode this meaning. Taking the uniqueness approach to definiteness as a point of departure, we explore the differences in the interpretation of definite NPs in English and in Russian, arguing that Russian bare nominals do not give rise to the presupposition of uniqueness. The perceived definiteness in Russian is analysed as a pragmatic effect (not as a result of a covert type-shift), which has the following sources: ontological uniqueness, topicality, and familiarity/anaphoricity.",

author = "Daria Seres and Olga Borik",

note = "We acknowledge financial support from the Spanish MINECO (FFI2017-82547-P) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017SGR634).",

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doi = "10.5281/ZENODO.5483116",

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Definiteness in the absence of uniqueness: The case of Russian. / Seres, Daria; Borik, Olga.
Advances in formal Slavic linguistics 2018. ed. / Andreas Blümel; Jovana Gajić; Ljudmila Geist; Uwe Junghanns; Hagen Pitsch. Berlín: Language Science Press, 2021. p. 339-363 (Open Slavic Linguistics; Vol. 4).

Research output: Chapter in Book › Chapter › Research › peer-review

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AU - Borik, Olga

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Definiteness in the absence of uniqueness: The case of Russian

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La interpretación de las categorías funcionales

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