Determination and the expression of definiteness in indigenous languages of the Americas – an introduction

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21820007
AutoresAlejandra Vidal (0000-0003-4671-5311, National University of Formosa, autor de correspondencia)
Año2025
Volumen78
Número3
Páginas393-401
Fecha de publicación2025-09-25
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLanguage Typology and Universals (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1867-8319 • E-ISSN: 2196-7148
EditorialWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/stuf-2025-2020
OpenAlexW4415310956
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas21

This volume examines specific features of noun phrase structure and the role of demonstratives in the individuation and definiteness of nominal referents. These phenomena are particularly significant and underexplored in the genetically unrelated South American languages represented in this volume. The analysis focuses on the distribution and function of determiners, the presence or absence of overt markers, and the influence of semantic, pragmatic and discourse-contextual factors. The conceptual framework emphasizes determination, individuation, and definiteness. Determination modifies noun phrases through elements such as articles, demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers, linking referents to discourse. Individuation describes how entities acquire referential status, from generic to specific, shaped by both structural and contextual factors. Definiteness concerns the identifiability of referents for speaker and hearer, distinguishing unique or familiar entities from indefinite ones. While articles often encode definiteness, several languages examined here rely primarily on demonstratives, which can also convey features such as proximity, animacy, temporality, and other semantic distinctions. Drawing on text corpora, these analyses provide new insights into the expression of definiteness and referentiality in natural discourse, contributing to the typological understanding of determination in article-less languages

Categorization · Definiteness · Indigenous · Individuation · Lexicalization · Noun · Noun phrase · Syntax · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Spanish Linguistics and Language Studies · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation