Definiteness and Existentials
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2856592 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Barbara Abbott (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1997 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 103 |
| Publication date | 1997-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0097-8507 • E-ISSN: 1535-0665 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/416595 |
| OpenAlex | W2028757773 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 4 |
Prince 1992 reanalyzed the information status of NPs into two cross-cutting distinctions, one between NPs denoting entities that are new or old with respect to the discourse and another between NPs denoting entities that, in the speaker's estimation, are new or old with respect to the addressee. The category of HEARER-NEW NPs, equivalent to the category 'brand-new' of Prince 1981, contains NPs denoting entities that the speaker assumes to be unknown to the addressee. The hearer-old category contrasts with discourse-old in including discourse-new NPs that denote entities the speaker assumes to be in the addressee's long term memory store; 'in the permanent registry' (Kuno 1972), 'culturally copresent' (Clark and Marshall 1981), 'unused' (Prince 1981), are other descriptions of similar ideas cited by Prince (1992: 301-2). Hence discourseold NPs are assumed to be a subset of hearer-old NPs ('since hearers are expected to remember what they have been told' (Prince 1992: 303)), but a proper subset.* Prince found that (morphologically defined) definiteness in NPs largely correlates with their being hearer-old. This reflects the familiarity aspect of definiteness. Prince noted in passing, however, that not all definites are hearer-old.1 She had already acknowledged the ability of definites to occur in there-sentences, as in l. (1) a. There were the same people at both conferences. [= Prince 1992, ex. Sa] b. There was the usual crowd at the beach. [= Prince 1992, ex. Sb] c. There was the stupidest article on the reading list. f= Prince 1992, ex. 5c]
Definiteness · Linguistics · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Philosophy
Discourse functions at the periphery
Feature-placing, localizability, and the semantics of existential sentences
A systemic typology of existential and possessive constructions
A Estrutura Sintática Das Sentenças Existenciais E O Efeito De Definitude
Like
Intransitive clause word order in Neo-Aramaic
Efficiency in discourse processing
Existential Sentences Crosslinguistically
Indefinite expressions and accessibility hierarchy to core argument functionsin a sample of Austronesian languages(and beyond)
There be- and have-sentences
Existential constructions
On relative clauses and locative expressions in English existential sentences
Quasi-definites in Swedish
On the Syntax of Existential Sentences in Standard Arabic
On the Syntax of Existential Sentences in Najdi Arabic
The Definiteness Effect
Irish Existentials in Context
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,71 |
| Citation span | 2002 - 2025 (24) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |