The definite article
Code and context
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19067980 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Francis Renaud (École des hautes études en sciences sociales, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1996 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 139-180 |
| Publication date | 1996-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Semantics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-5133 • E-ISSN: 1477-4593 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jos/13.2.139 |
| OpenAlex | W2077734478 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
Numerous grammatical items can only be understood if the context is taken into account. In order to provide a formal treatment of this problem, we introduce the notion of knowledge base into linguistics. After having worked out a hard core system of rules for analysing numerals, definite articles, and indefinite articles, we give a thorough study of the French singular definite article le. This grammatical item has the particularity of not encoding a fixed information stored in the lexicon, but of running a program of information processing We show that the referential computation can be made by a precise algorithm working on a definite stratum of the reader's knowledge base. In this framework, the uniqueness hypothesis of Russell becomes a guideline to retrieve memorized information. The algorithm accounts for deictic as well as anaphonc referential identifications. Our analysis proposes a unitary account for a large part of empirical data and reconciles the logical approach of Russell–Montague with the pragmatic approach of Hawkins
Algorithm · Deixis · Linguistics · Natural language processing · Numeral system · Uniqueness · Advanced Algebra and Logic · Computer Science · Logic, Reasoning, and Knowledge · Mathematics · Philosophy · Rough Sets and Fuzzy Logic · Artificial Intelligence · Theoretical Computer Science
| Citations per year | 0.08 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2000 - 2017 (18) |
| Highly cited | No |