Abstract
The proprial article is a functional item that occurs in a number of languages alongside names to the general exclusion of other nouns. In the following I present an account of the semantic function of this article, and how it interacts with names as nouns to form referential expressions in argument position. In particular, I suggest that in line with what a number of researchers have claimed, names generally are count nouns in the lexicon, denoting the property of bearing the name in question. The proprial article then composes with name NPs of a certain sort to yield proprial DPs that rigidly denote individuals, which are presupposed to bear the name in question at their world of use. It follows that ordinary referential names in argument position are not definite descriptions, as related approaches to the semantics of names often suppose, and that the proprial article is a functional element distinct from the definite article. This schema is applied to DP languages with article systems generally: all such languages are taken to have the proprial article, whether it appears overtly or covertly, and to make use of proprial DPs for reference using names. The machinery used further allows for a model-theoretically precise and intuitively compelling characterization of name-bearing. EARLY ACCESS
Highlights
The proprial article is a functional item that occurs in a number of languages alongside names to the general exclusion of other nouns
I propose that ordinary referential names in argument position are proprial DPs in DP languages with article systems, which are the result of composition between the proprial article and the right sort of NP containing a name noun
This section clarifies how the semantics for proprial DPs given above relates to acts of reference using those DPs in argument position, and demonstrates that such a use of a name presupposes that its referent bears that name at its world of use
Summary
A number of languages have an article of a special form that occurs adjacent to names, called the proprial article. TAM listen silent PROP Ponga ‘Ponga listened in silence.’ [Maori. The proprial article in Maori has a form distinct from definite articles, including the singular determiner te and the plural determiner nga. These combine with non-name NPs in the usual way. In what follows I offer a semantics for the proprial article, and a semantics for names as nouns, that accounts for their composition in forming referential names in argument position. I propose that ordinary referential names in argument position are proprial DPs in DP languages with article systems, which are the result of composition between the proprial article and the right sort of NP containing a name noun.
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