Definite Noun Research Articles

Demonstratives in heritage Greek, Russian, and Turkish in Germany and the United States

Aims and Objectives: This study investigates the use of definite noun phrases involving demonstratives in adolescent and adult monolingually raised and heritage speakers of Greek, Russian, and Turkish with the following research questions: (1) Do heritage speakers of Greek, Russian, and Turkish align with monolingually raised speakers regarding the production of demonstratives? and (2) Do mode and register affect the use of demonstratives? Methodology: We conducted a corpus study on production data of heritage speakers of Greek, Russian, and Turkish residing in the United States and Germany and the respective monolingually raised speakers in Greece, Russia, and Turkey. The majority languages of the heritage speakers were German or English, respectively. Data were elicited in two distinct registers (formal vs informal) and in two distinct modes (spoken vs written). Participants were asked to narrate what happened in a short video showing a fictional minor car accident. Analysis: Oral and written narrations were annotated and analyzed using generalized linear mixed-effects regression modeling on the use of demonstratives by heritage and monolingually raised speakers accounting for individual variation, country of elicitation, mode, and register. Findings: The results show that heritage and monolingually raised speakers of Greek, Russian, and Turkish converge in their use of demonstratives. Also, mode and/or register significantly affect the production of definite noun phrases with demonstratives across all speaker groups. Originality: This is the first cross-linguistically comparable large-scale corpus study with ecologically valid production data of definite noun phrases with demonstratives in bilinguals. Significance: The study contributes to understanding the use of demonstratives in heritage and monolingual Greek, Russian, and Turkish. It provides insights into the use of demonstratives in languages with different determiner systems and the impact of mode and/or register, which seems to be pronounced roughly similarly across these languages.

Interpreting referential noun phrases in belief reports – the de re/de dicto competition

The de re/de dicto ambiguity centers on the referential and/or attributive properties of noun phrases within the scope of intentional operators, such as belief reports. For instance, in the belief report "Julie believes Elizabeth’s poem will win the competition," a de re reading of the embedded referential noun phrase "Elizabeth’s poem" entails that the referential association between this noun phrase and the target poem is true from the speaker's perspective but may not be recognized as such in the belief holder’s (i.e., Julie’s) mind. In contrast, a de dicto reading describes Julie’s beliefs as she understands the referential association in her mind. While both de re and de dicto readings of definite noun phrases are considered acceptable, given different supporting contexts, we show that the acceptability of de re readings is vulnerable to contextual and pragmatic manipulations. One such case involves a context in which the belief holder, Julie, holds a mistaken belief about the identity of the poem, such as thinking that it was written by Nicole when, in reality, it was written by Elizabeth. This mistaken identity context introduces a de dicto reading of a competing noun phrase, "Nicole’s poem," in "Julie believes Nicole’s poem will win the competition." In this context, the speaker-oriented de re reading of "Elizabeth’s poem" has a roughly bimodal acceptability distribution, while the de dicto noun phrase was overall preferred. Our study is the first to systematically lay out the empirical landscape of de re/de dicto readings of definite noun phrases and highlights the vulnerability of the de re reading. This investigation solidifies the foundation for further theory development and endorses the practice of collecting reliable empirical judgment data for nuanced semantic phenomena.

التحليل النحوي لاسم المعرفة في سورة الغاشية

The aim of this research is to analyze and identify isim marifat, or definite nouns, in the Al-Qur'an, which focuses on al-Ghasyiyah. The results of syntactic analysis, which focuses on definite nouns, or Isim makrifat, found that not all verses in the letter contain these nouns. It is only found in 16 verses, including: in the first verse, there is one noun in the form Isim, which includes ال in the word الغاسية; in verse 6, there is one Isim Ma'rifat in the form of Isim Dhomir. This noun is also established in verses 9, 11, 12, and 13, in the form Isim dhomir ها. In verses 17, 18, 19, and 20, it is established in the form ال in the words-الابل ،السما ،الجبال ،الارض. Then, in verse 21, two Isim ma'rifat are established in the form of Isim maushul ما and Isim dhomir munfashil انت. In verse 22, there is one definite noun in the form of Isim dhomir muttashil. Namely, in verse 23, there is one Isim Ma'rifat in the form of Isim Maushul in the form of من. Also, this noun is established in verse 24 by four nouns in the form of one Isim dhomir and three Isim by ال. In verse 25, there are two Isim ma'rifat in the form of Isim dhomir muttashil mahal jer،هم نا, and in verse 26, there are two Isim ma'rifat in the form of Isim dhomir muttashil mahal jer نا ،هم. In terms of the function of the I'rob definite noun or Isim Ma'rifat in the alghosiyah letter, there are three types, namely one Rafa'/nominative noun, five Nashab/accusative nouns, and 16 nouns with the Jer/genetive function.

Al-Nakirah wa al-Ma'rifah fi Surati al-Naba'/النكرة والمعرفة في سورة النبأ

Surah An-Naba' in the Holy Qur'an is one of the chapters rich in message and meaning. This surah employs both nakirah (indefinite) and ma'rifah (definite) nouns, which play a crucial role in conveying the message and enriching the structure of the Arabic language. To date, studies specifically addressing the types of nakirah and ma'rifah nouns and their grammatical analysis in Surah An-Naba' are limited. Therefore, this research aims to provide an understanding of the "Types of Nakirah and Ma'rifah Nouns and Their Grammatical Analysis in Surah An-Naba'." The objectives of this study are: (1) To identify the types of nakirah nouns and analyze their grammatical roles in Surah An-Naba'. (2) To identify the types of ma'rifah nouns and analyze their grammatical roles in Surah An-Naba'. The research methodology employed by the author in this study is qualitative descriptive research. The method used for data collection is the library research method. The sources of the materials investigated in this study are divided into two types: primary sources and secondary sources. The findings of the research include several key points obtained through the author's procedures, such as: (1) The number of nakirah nouns in Surah An-Naba' is found in thirty-four (34) verses. (2) The number of ma'rifah nouns in Surah An-Naba' is found in thirty-two (32) verses. It can be concluded that the study of nakirah and ma'rifah nouns is essential for understanding the Qur'an. The purpose of this learning is to prevent errors in the interpretation of the Qur'an, the Hadith of the Prophet, and other texts.

Relativization in Likpakpaln (Ghana): New typological perspectives on the Mabia (Gur) languages

AbstractThis article provides the first systematic account of relativization in Likpakpaln, an understudied Mabia (Gur) language of Ghana. Broadly speaking, Likpakpaln features two types of relative clauses: restrictive and non-restrictive. Both types of relative clauses are finite and marked by a relative pronoun as well as a clausal definite determiner. The first type is always headed by an indefinite noun. The second is invariably headed by a definite head noun, is additionally marked by a prosodic break, and is usually under focus. The relative pronoun is a composite form comprised of a noun class agreement marker and an invariant relative marker. A number of the features of relative clauses in Likpakpaln align it with other Mabia languages of the region, whereas others distinguish it from these languages. This analysis situates Likpakpaln within its genealogical and areal context while providing new typological perspectives on the Mabia languages as a whole.

Herrarne and damerna. The variation in the plural definite noun declension in Sweden and Finland in the 19th century

In the 19th century, definiteness in the plural could be marked with two different articles, -na and -ne, but the norms regulating the variation were not universally agreed upon. In this study, I investigate how 19th-century Swedish grammars approach the variation in suffixes and how the prescriptive norms match the language used in Swedish-language newspapers from the same era, with special attention given to the differences between the varieties of Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland. For this purpose, two historical newspaper corpora were consulted, comprised of newspapers published during the 19th century in Sweden and Finland, respectively. The findings show that from the middle of the 19th century, the grammars are generally split into two practices, with one attributing the use of the articles to the declension of the noun, while the other, mainly associated with the historical-comparative school, attributing it to the grammatical gender of the noun. In addition, grammars written in Finland stress the semantic gender of animate nouns. This difference is also reflected in the corpora: while both varieties are influenced by both the gender and the declension, the declension is the most important factor in the Swedish corpora, whereas semantic gender is the main factor in the Finnish corpora.

Noun phrases in Kwéyòl Donmnik

Abstract Though Creole nominal systems have been intensely researched, in-context, corpus-based examinations are uncommon, and there are Creole languages whose noun phrases remain understudied. I use a corpus of conversational data and a pattern-building task designed to elicit demonstrative and definite noun phrases, exophoric reference, and co-speech pointing gestures to explore the noun phrase in Kwéyòl Donmnik, an endangered, understudied French lexifier Creole. I focus on noun phrases that are bare, marked by the post-nominal determiners definite la ‘the’ or demonstrative sa-la ‘this/that’, or accompanied by the pre-nominal indefinite determiner yon ‘a(n)’. Results pinpoint the readings conveyed by each noun phrase type, identify the word categories of their nouns, and address similarities in usage between definite la and demonstrative sa-la.

Second language processing of English definite noun phrases by Spanish speakers and Japanese speakers

Abstract The present study examines the acquisition of definite noun phrases (NPs) in L2 English. Both English and Spanish have a definite article, but Japanese lacks articles, though definite anaphoric and definite non-anaphoric are present to some degree through the optional use of sono (the/that). A self-paced reading task was administered to assess real-time processing in the comprehension of different types of definite NPs by L2-English learners. The self-paced reading results show processing of definite NPs is influenced by proficiency level rather than L1 transfer effects. We discuss our findings in reference to the Morphological Congruency Hypothesis and the Lexical Learning/Lexical Transfer model and suggest that our data support the latter but not the former.

ANALYSING PRESUPPOSITION: A STUDY ON PRESIDENT AKUFO-ADDO’S STATE OF THE NATION ADDRESS (SONA), 2022

Presupposition can be said to be an assumption of a speaker prior to making an utterance and it is an implied claim of an utterance. Using qualitative method, the researchers examine various language structures that give rise to presuppositions, pursuing this exercise by exploring the State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered by President Akufo-Addo of Ghana on 30th March 2022. The analysis of the SONA, as the data of the study, reveals the utilization of a number of presupposition triggers – such as possessive construction, “one” construction, definite noun phrase, adverbial clause, relative clause, “even” construction, iteratives, change of state verbs, and factive verbs or phrases – under the existential, structural and lexical presuppositions. The article thus opines that the enactment of presuppositions, through the identified forms, affords the President the opportunity to disseminate his message with a higher degree of veracity on the conditions and happenings of the Ghanaian state.

18 Automatically calculated lexical and sentential context features of connected speech predict cognitive impairment

Objective:Early detection is critical to the effective management of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other forms of dementia. Existing screening assessments are often costly, require substantial expertise to administer, and may be insensitive to mild changes in cognition. A promising alternative is automatically measuring features of connected speech (c.f., Ostrand & Gunstad, 2021, Journal Geriatric Psych & Neurol) to predict impairment. Here, we built on prior work examining how well speech features predicted cognitive impairment. Unique to the current work, we attempted to capture more holistic effects of cognitive impairment by examining the relevance of linguistic features that measure sentential or discourse context properties of speech, including the context in which filler words (e.g., um) occur, and the predictability of individual words within their sentence context, computed from a large computational language model (GPT-2).Participants and Methods:Participants completed the Cookie Theft picture description task, with data available in the DementiaBank corpus (Becker et al., 1994, Arch Neurol). Descriptions that contained at least 50 words (N = 214) were submitted to an automatic feature calculation pipeline written in Python to calculate various part-of-speech counts, lexical diversity metrics, and mean lexical frequency, as well as multiple metrics related to lexical surprisal (i.e., how surprising a word is given its context).Surprisal of individual words was computed using the pre-trained GPT-2 transformer language model (Radford et al., 2019, Comput. Sci.) by computing word probability given the previous 12 words. Multiple linear regression was performed using 17 linguistic features jointly as predictors, and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score as the outcome variable. Simple regressions were calculated between each feature and MMSE scores to examine the predictability of each linguistic feature on cognitive decline.Results:A multiple linear regression model containing all linguistic features plus demographic information (age, sex, education) significantly predicted MMSE scores (Adjusted R2 = 0.41, F20, 193 = 8.37, p < .001), and explained significantly more variance in MMSE scores than did demographic variables alone (F17193 = 6.85, p < .001). Individual predictors that were significantly correlated with MMSE score included: how unexpected an individual’s word choices were, given the preceding context (median surprisal: r = -0.33, p < 0.001; interquartile range: r = 0.18, p < 0.02), mean lexical frequency (r = -0.50, p < .001), and usage of definite articles (r = 0.31, p < 0.001), nouns (r = 0.26, p < .001), and empty words (r = -0.25, p < 0.001).Conclusions:Participants with lower MMSE scores, indicating greater impairment, used more frequent, yet more surprising, words, and produced more empty words and fewer definite articles and nouns. These results suggest that measures of semantic specificity and coherence of speech could be meaningful predictors of cognitive decline, and can be computed automatically from speech transcriptions. The results also provide novel evidence that computational approaches to estimating lexical predictability may have value in predicting the degree of decline, motivating future work in other speech elicitation tasks and differing clinical groups.

Nominal linkers in Central Kurdish (Silemānī variety)

Focusing on the Silemānī variety of Central Kurdish, this paper explores the distribution of modifiers, possessors, and arguments within the noun phrase as well as the linking vowels that precede these elements. The position of modifiers and the form of the linker both differ in indefinite and definite noun phrases. In indefinite phrases, modifiers follow the plural and indefinite suffixes and appear with a linker of the form -ī. In definite phrases, modifiers precede the plural and definite suffixes and appear with a linker of the form -a. Since an -a linker is found in many compounds, we also consider general issues of modification versus compounding in Central Kurdish. Finally, possessors and arguments do not show sensitivity to definiteness. In all noun phrases, possessors and arguments occur after number and definiteness morphology with a linker of the form -ī.

Search and Comparison of Isim Ma'rifat with Remove Diacritic in the Qur'an and Hadith of Abu Daud

This research aims to address the issues of searching for and comparing Isim Ma'rifat (definite nouns) with the prefix "AL" (ال) in the Quran and Hadith Abu Daud. Accurate sources of information regarding nouns in Islam are crucial, and the sayings of the Prophet (Hadith) serve as the primary reference for explaining Isim Ma’rifat. The Remove Diacritics method allows the removal of punctuation marks in the Arabic language, facilitating the search for Isim Ma'rifat with the prefix "AL" (ال) in both sources. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the ability of Hadith Abu Daud to explain the Isim Ma'rifat found in the Quran. The comparison results reveal 376 instances of identical Isim Ma'rifat between the Quran and Hadith Abu Daud. Additionally, there are 611 instances of Isim Ma'rifat found solely in the Quran and 1388 instances found exclusively in Hadith Abu Daud. These findings provide insights into the capacity of Hadith Abu Daud to explain Isim Ma'rifat in the Quran. The search and comparison of Isim Ma'rifat in the Quran and Hadith Abu Daud hold significant contributions to the development of Quranpedia. Valid information about Isim Ma'rifat and the comparisons between the Quran and Hadith Abu Daud can enrich the content on Quranpedia. In creating the Quranpedia website, the search results for Isim Ma'rifat offer accurate information about nouns mentioned in the Quran, aiding users in better understanding the meanings and uses of Isim Ma'rifat in the religious context. The comparison between the Quran and Hadith Abu Daud provides insights into Hadith Abu Daud's ability to explain Isim Ma'rifat in the Quran. This information can be presented as articles or comparisons to enrich users' knowledge about the relationship between the Quran and hadith concerning the use of nouns in Islam.

The nonuse of the definite article the in referencing definite nouns in research writing: An empirical study using both corpus and survey data and its implications

Using both corpus and survey data, this study examines a hitherto uninvestigated issue: the use of the null article (i.e., the nonuse of the definite article the in referencing definite/specific nouns) in academic research writing. Specifically, the study consisted of three parts: a small corpus analysis of research articles (RAs) written by well published L1 English scholars in applied linguistics, a survey of members of the academic community, and a large corpus analysis of RA abstracts. Results of the study indicate that null article use is fairly common in RAs, but the number of nouns used with the null article is very limited, restricted to only three small groups of nouns commonly found in empirical studies involving human subjects. Furthermore, null article use is confined almost exclusively to the abstract, methodology, and results/discussion sections. Also, null article use is quite well accepted by members of the academic community across all ranks, ranging from well-published professors to instructors and graduate students. However, there are variations in null article use across-/within writers and across academic disciplinary divisions. Pedagogical and research implications are also discussed.

Definite reference and discourse prominence in Longxi Qiang

Abstract This paper focuses on the uses of the definite marker -tì in Longxi Qiang, a Tibeto-Burman language. Although the selection of referring expressions made by speakers is based on referent accessibility or cognitive status, at the same time, referring expressions have pragmatic and interactive dimensions. The concept of identifiability can account for the uses of the definite marker -tì; however, this concept is not sufficient to explain the selection of -tì in certain discourse contexts. Accordingly, this paper discusses the discourse uses of non-referential definite noun phrases. In addition to encoding definiteness, -tì serves as a prominence marker to trigger the interpretation that an entity, an action or a property is prominent, and the speaker intended to highlight the topicality. With respect to discourse functions, -tì is attached not only to noun phrases but also to verb and adjective phrases, fillers and connectors. These uses of -tì have been expanded into Wenchuan Mandarin.

Referential Expression Type and Definiteness as Factors in Asymmetrical Object Marking in Modern Hebrew

The subject of this study are the referential expressions that encode the O-participant in a transitive clause in the Modern Hebrew language. The goal of this study is to establish the significance of “definiteness” as a factor in asymmetric object marking for different types of referential expressions used by the Modern Hebrew speakers. For this purpose, the author considers the ways of expressing the category "definiteness" in various Modern Hebrew referential expressions that encode the O-participant in a transitive clause, and carries out a quantitative and comparative analysis of the ways of formalizing these expressions, using two research corpuses with a total volume of about 101 000 words. As a result of the analysis, it is concluded that, despite the clear correlation between the “definiteness” and the way noun phrases in the direct object role are constructed, “definiteness” is the only factor licensing asymmetric object marking for only one category out of the four considered, for proper names that are obligatorily marked. The remaining categories (definite noun phrases with other indicators of determination, indefinite noun phrases and pronouns) are all optionally marked within one or more types of referential expressions within each category. Of particular importance are the conclusions about the optional marking of referents encoded with the kol quantifier (55% of referential expressions with a quantifier and a relative pronoun are marked), partitive constructions (75% are marked), demonstrative and relative pronouns (48% and 66-85% are marked, respectively). It is proposed that for these types of referential expressions, there are additional factors that license asymmetric object marking in Modern Hebrew and that to determine them it would require further study of the discourse-pragmatic characteristics of referent-encoding expressions, including their referential status, status of animation, activity in discourse and degree of topicality.

INDEFINITENESS AND DEFINITENESS IN WAIJEWA

In a language a noun phrase may be presented with an element to show whether the noun phrase definite or indefinite. Every language has its own way to show definite and indefinite, for example using certain words or attaching affixes on the nouns. Waijewa, a minority language in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara differentiates the definite and indefinite noun phrase by attaching grammatical and morphological markers to denote definite and indefinite noun phrases. The indefinite noun phrases are ones with null markers and ones with article, while definite noun phrases are marked by the use of demonstratives, genitive case, and definite emphasizing markers. Demonstratives in Waijewa are object- distance-speaker –listener- oriented. The definiteness or indefiniteness of the nouns denoted can be anaphoric and cataphoric.

Why do He and She Disagree: The Role of Binary Morphological Features in Grammatical Gender Agreement in German

In many languages, grammatical gender is an inherent property of nouns and, as such, forms a basis for agreement relations between nouns and their dependent elements (e.g., adjectives, determiners). Mental gender representation is traditionally assumed to be categorial, with categorial gender nodes corresponding to the given gender specifications in a certain language (e.g., [masculine], [feminine], [neuter] in German). In alternative models, inspired by accounts put forward in theoretical linguistics, it has been argued that mental gender representations consist of sets of binary features which might be fully specified (e.g., masc [+ m, − f], fem [− m, + f], neut [− m, − f]) or underspecified (e.g., masc [+ m], fem [+ f], neut [] or masc [+ m, − f], fem [], neut [− f]). We have conducted two experiments to test these controversial accounts. Native speakers of German were asked to decide on the (un-)grammaticality of gender agreement of visually presented combinations of I) definite determiners and nouns, and II) anaphoric personal pronouns and nouns in an implicit nominative singular setting. Overall, agreement violations with neuter das / es increased processing costs compared to violations with die / sie or der / er for masculine or feminine target nouns, respectively. The observed pattern poses a challenge for models involving categorial gender representation. Rather, it is consistent with feature-based representations of grammatical gender in the mental lexicon.

Classifiers in Dimasa and (in-)definite marking

Abstract Dimasa (ISO 639-3 dis) is a Bodo-Garo language within the Tibeto-Burman family of languages. Like other Tibeto-Burman languages of Northeast India, it has a system of numeral classifiers which occur prefixed to their respective numerals. Across the dozen or so languages of Bodo-Garo, it has been noted that the classifier-numeral word can be placed either before or after the counted noun. The existence of numeral classifiers, as well as the clf-num order may have arisen in this area due to contact with Tai languages during the Ahom kingdom period from the 1200’s to 1800’s. In the Tai languages, classifiers precede the number “one”. By comparing occurrences of classifiers in Dimasa texts, it can be seen that the order N clf-num corresponds to definite nouns, while the order clf-num n marks indefinites. In addition to classifier placement, Dimasa definiteness is also marked by demonstratives, case marking, topic marking, and/or combinations of these strategies.

Menyoal Kembali Partikel Ta dalam Bahasa Jawa Kuno

Old Javanese is known as a language that has a predicate clause pattern (V) preceding the subject (S). Usually, there is a particle ta or its variation between the predicate-subject sequences (V-ta-S). Besides the V-S pattern, the S-V pattern is also found. In this paper, it is shown that the clause pattern in Old Javanese is triggered by the importance of forming a narrative discourse. Particle ta and several other syntactic elements have a role in shaping narrative discourse. Other syntactic elements are the definition of nouns, arguments in the form of nouns (NP) or pronouns, and affective-passive verbs.The source of the data I use for this study is the Old Javanese parwa text, namely Adiparwa edited by Juynboll (1906). According to Molen (2010, 396), parwa is a literary product in itself. Parwa must be viewed as a literary work, just like kakawin. There is a clear story structure aided by lexical, grammatical, and literary structuring tools. In this study, the grammatical elements used for the purpose of building the story are shown.

PHONO-MORPHO-SEMANTICS OF THE ABORIGINAL NOUNS IN THE KAZAKH LANGUAGE

Nouns, which are the leading groups of words, have always needed to be studied in the field of linguistics. In particular, it was necessary to study the influence of phonosemantic and phonomorphic-semantic phenomena on the phonetic or phonetic, semantic features of words in the modern language. On the contrary, another group of nouns does not change its appearance, but changes its internal lexical composition. Some have lost their old meanings, while others add new lexical meanings. According to researchers, the noun was used in ancient Turkic inscriptions. Orkhon-Yenisei monuments have their own system of phonetic, morphological and semantic features. Introduces many settings for correct reading and translation of individual words. Scientists also explained in detail the peculiarities of recording sounds in the monument. Focuses on phonetic and grammatical structure. The article discusses the phonomorphosemantic characteristics of ancient nouns and the definition of nouns in the language of medieval written monuments from the point of view of the modern Kazakh language. In addition, scientific concepts of indigenous words were generalized, the opinions of scientists-researchers of Kazakh linguistics, such as Marhabat Tomanov, Berikbai Sagyndykuly, Zhamal Mankeeva, etc. were taken as a basis.