Definite Noun Research Articles

L1 Transfer Effects in the Production of Generic Plurals in L2 Arabic

AbstractThis study examines first language (L1) English transfer in the acquisition of plural noun semantics in second language (L2) Arabic. Drawing on previous research on the L2 acquisition of plural noun interpretation, the study presents and discusses new production data of specific and generic definite plurals by English‐speaking learners of Arabic at beginning (n = 15), low‐advanced (n = 15), and high‐advanced levels (n = 11). The results from 2 meaning‐based elicitation tasks showed that the beginning group heavily transferred their L1 English generic bare plurals in the production of target‐like Arabic generic definite plurals. The low‐advanced group fluctuated between bare and definite plurals. Only the high‐advanced group, who had studied Arabic in an immersion setting combined with very structured classroom instruction, showed considerable stability in their production of target‐like definite plurals. A careful analysis of the textbook series the beginning and low‐advanced groups were taught from showed that the semantics of plural nouns, and more broadly, the semantics of the definite article, were not explicitly taught. The study concludes that the L1 effects in mapping definite and bare plural nouns to their meanings are exacerbated in the absence of explicit instruction. Further pedagogical implications for teaching form‐meaning mappings for articles are discussed.

Determination and modification: Topology of prenominal attributes in Lithuanian

[full article and abstract in English]
 This paper offers a description of the linear structure of the definite Lithuanian noun phrase (NP) with an emphasis on prenominal attributes. Morphological and syntactical coding of definiteness is examined through the comparison of NP structures in Lithuanian (a language with relatively ungrammaticalised marking of definiteness) and Swedish (a language with fully developed overt marking of definiteness). The special role of definite attributes, quantifiers and adjectival modifiers is shown through identifying key positions in a linear structure of the Lithuanian NP. A topology of the Lithuanian NP is then suggested reflecting the multi-layered nature of the reference-assigning process mirrored in multi-exponential marking of definiteness, with adjectival marking being a very important one. Variations in NP structures are described using Lithuanian and Swedish data focusing on the combinatorial possibilities of definite adjectival modifiers and other determiners.

Endophoric definiteness: An analysis based on Romanian data

[full article and abstract in English]
 Definiteness as a grammatical or pragmatic category is usually explained via the act of reference. In this spirit, a definite noun phrase is said to ensure that the hearer can identify the entity to which the NP refers, thus establishing a successful act of communication. The well-known typology of definiteness types developed by Hawkins (1978) relies on this assumption. However, such an explanation fails to clarify all the definite noun phrases in discourse.This paper argues that the information provided in the complex nominal constituent can yield a definite interpretation of the nominal regardless of the hearer’s ability to identify the real-life referent to which the noun refers. Such types of definite noun phrases are subsumed in this article under the term “endophoric definiteness”. I will discuss two subtypes of endophoric definiteness. First, the relational definiteness, based on the notion of reference-point constructions will be discussed. Then I will turn to modificational definiteness where the use of modifiers contribute to the definite interpretation of the nominal. The article focuses on how the endophoric definiteness types function and what strategies can be used to mark them formally. To illustrate this point, I use the qualitative analysis of Romanian data. It shows that a language may have different grammatical patterns for the two subtypes of endophoric definiteness. This formal distinction in linguistic expression shows that relational and modificational definiteness types must be taken into account as contributing, in distinct ways, to the category of definiteness.

Uso, omisión e interpretación del artículo definido en hispanohablantes de herencia

¿Por qué los hablantes de español como lengua de herencia presentan variabilidad en el uso del artículo definido (ArtD) en español? Se ha establecido que las construcciones nominales definidas (Las mesas grandes) y escuetas (Mesas grandes) tienen diferente interpretación y distribución en inglés y español (Chierchia, 1998; Gelman & Raman, 2003; Dayal, 2004; Montrul & Ionin, 2010, 2012; entre otros). El objetivo es investigar la transferencia de los aspectos sintáctico (uso vs omisión del ArtD) y semántico (interpretación genérica vs interpretación específica) en sintagmas nominales en la escritura de hispanohablantes de herencia. Se analizaron ciento sesenta y cuatro composiciones que presentaban nombres plurales contables y singulares no contables. Se encontró transferencia del inglés al español en cuatro niveles de competencia lingüística, pero esta disminuye conforme avanza el dominio de la lengua de herencia. Finalmente, se discute cuál de las dos propiedades es más susceptible a superar las diferencias entre las lenguas.

Indirekta Anaforer I Inlärarsvenska: Analys Av Korta Texter Skrivna Av Svenskstuderande I Polen

Abstract Definiteness appears to be one of the most difficult categories for learners of Swedish. Particularly difficult are the so-called indirect anaphors, definite noun phrases without any explicit antecedent in text. The choice of a definite noun phrase in such contexts requires language skills on a higher level and even some general knowledge about the world. Such phrases make a very nuanced category, yet they are marginalised in textbooks for learning Swedish. This paper presents the results of a study conducted among a group of Polish students of Swedish at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. The analysis considers noun phrases used in contexts for indirect and direct anaphors excerpted from short texts written by the students based on a picture story. The results reveal that the students’ use of indirect anaphors is not stable. It can be assumed that indirect anaphors concerning body parts are easier to acquire for the learners. Another important factor is the relation of possession between anaphors and triggers. Students often omit the suffixed definite article in context for both indirect and direct anaphors. The study is included in my doctoral thesis written on this topic.

The structure of Argobba nominal phrase

Abstract This paper analyzes the internal structure of Argobba nominal phrase in Head-Driven Phrase Structure Grammar (HPSG) formalism. Argobba is a seriously endangered Semitic language in Ethiopia. Unlike its sister languages in the Ethio-Semitic subfamily, Argobba nouns qualified by a demonstrative, possessive pronoun and genitive NP bear a definite article. It is argued in this paper that the definite article is not an independent syntactic element, but an affix, which is attached to indefinite nouns lexically. It is argued that the derivation of Argobba definite common nouns is captured by the Definite Lexical Rule (DLR). The paper also claims that the NP internal agreement of specifiers and modifiers with the head noun is accounted for by the SPEC and MOD features that impose certain constraints on the morphosyntactic features of the head noun.

A Dual-Process Activation Model: Processing definiteness and information status

The introduction of a new discourse referent with a descriptive noun phrase involves the introduction of a new concept and the assignment of a referent to that concept. Concepts can be inferred from previous context, and thus be pre-activated (e.g., gym activates the concept of the noun trainer), or can be discourse-new. The function of the definite article is to signal unique identifiability of the referent, and the function of the indefinite article is to assert the existence of a set introduced by the descriptive content. We tested to what extent concept pre-activation and the function of the definite and indefinite article affect referent activation during retrieval and integration as well as referent activation at the sentence level. In Experiment 1, a visual world eye tracking experiment, we found that inferred referents of definite noun phrases were more accessible at subsequent pronoun resolution than inferred referents of indefinite noun phrases. No effects of definiteness were observed for referents with brand-new concepts. In Experiment 2, recording event-related potentials at the noun phrase itself, referents with pre-activated concepts were accessed and integrated more easily than referents with brand-new concepts. Furthermore, definite and indefinite articles yielded differently large frontal negativities. We discuss our results within a Dual-Process Activation Model, which distinguishes two processes in referent management: concept activation and referent activation. Our data suggest that these processes not only affect noun phrase processing but also trigger specific pragmatic inferences at the sentence level.

Definiteness in Akan: Familiarity and uniqueness revisited

In the recent semantic literature, Akan is viewed as a language that distinguishes between uniqueness definites and familiarity definites (Schwarz 2009, 2013), following a proposal by Arkoh & Matthewson (2013). Based on a re-examination of previous evidence and on novel fieldwork data, this paper argues that this distinction is not supported in Akan. A novel analysis is put forward, in which the overt determiners in this language have a similar distribution to that of English the and that. Differences between English the and the Akan article nó are attributed to the availability of a definite bare noun, which is a competitor to the overt definite in Akan. The paper shows that definiteness distinctions cannot always be reduced to a uniqueness–familiarity dichotomy, and points to a more articulated view of definites cross-linguistically.

BENTUK DAN PERILAKU FRASA VERBA NOMINA DALAM BAHASA ARAB

<p>Verbal noun phrase (VNP) is a component of the construct phrase or idhāfah. This study aims to describe VNP’s structure and behavior in arabic grammar and show the unique characteristics of VNP among other types of construct phrase. The methodology used in this study is qualitative descriptive. The data containing VNP is collected from several sources i.e The Quran, Prophetic tradition, and online newspaper. The analysis of data is occurred by distributional methode in which bases its performance on analysing each linguistic particular related to other units. The results state that VNP has distinctive form: the first term mudhāf is a verbal noun which has neither the definite article nor nunation, and second term is definite or indefinite noun with no prepositional insertion. In order to syntac relation built by VNP the second term is the agent or doer of the action conveid by verbal noun, or the object of an action.</p>

Definiteness and Indefiniteness of Nouns in English and Albanian: A Contrastive Analysis

Abstract Different languages have different ways of indicating the definiteness and indefiniteness of nouns. In English, as in most languages, the category of definiteness and indefiniteness is not a grammatical category of nouns. It is rather a semantic category that is mainly conveyed by means of two articles: the definite article the and the indefinite article a/an. In Albanian, on the other hand, the category of definiteness and indefiniteness is a grammatical category realised mainly by case endings and the indefinite article një (a/an) which, along with the case endings, is used to indicate only the indefiniteness, as the definiteness relies exclusively on case endings. The main purpose of this paper was to indicate that, in spite of the difference in the ways they express the definiteness and indefiniteness which account for some of their functional differences, definite and indefinite nouns in English and Albanian also show some similarities. The contrastive analysis indicates that the definite nouns in English and Albanian share their main functions, namely the specific reference and the generic reference, although they do not certainly share the cataphoric reference, whereas the indefinite nouns share the descriptive, classifying, and categorising function as well as the numerical function, but they do not share the generic function.

Smart Enough to Talk With Us? Foundations and Challenges for Dialogue Capable AI Systems

Smart Enough to Talk With Us? Foundations and Challenges for Dialogue Capable AI Systems

Definite Spans and Blocking in Classifier Languages

Author(s): Jenks, Peter | Abstract: This paper presents a novel analysis of definite noun phrases in numeral classifier languages without definite articles. The motivation for this analysis comes from the classifier-modifier construction (CMC) in Thai, in which a predicative modifier can license a bare classifier, resulting in a definite interpretation. I argue that the definite readings are due to a null choice-functional determiner (Reinhart 1997, Winter 1997), which takes the modifier as its complement (Kayne 1994). I propose that the modifier licenses the bare classifier, otherwise prohibited, because head raising relative clause structures bleed the environment for a D-Clf-N span to be realized as a bare noun (Brody 2000, Svenonius 2012, a.o.). I argue that this coalescence-based account of definite noun phrases, specifically definite bare nouns, is an improvement on accounts based on head movement (Cheng and Sybesma 1999) or semantic type-shifting (Chierchia 1998). This analysis correctly derives the generalization that languages allowing definite bare classifiers do not allow definite bare nouns in most cases, captures Chierchia’s nominal typology without resorting to semantic variation, and opens up new accounts for the apparent optionality of functional morphology in analytic languages.

The Kitsur shulḥan ‘arukh, Hasidic Tale, and Maskilic Literature as Exemplars of Ashkenazic Hebrew

This article examines the language of three distinct prominent Eastern European Hebrew textual corpora, namely the Kitsur shul@han ‘arukh, the Hasidic hagiographic tale, and Maskilic fiction. It demonstrates that despite their authors’ divergent ideological and religio- cultural stances, each of the three corpora exhibits striking similarities in their use of particular morphosyntactic features which are regarded as non-standard vis-à-vis earlier canonical forms of the language. These features include the use of prepositions in conjunction with the definite article; non-standard noun gender; definite construct nouns; doubly definite construct chains; avoidance of the dual in conjunction with time words and numerals; and feminine numerals modifying masculine nouns. These similarities suggest that the the Kitsur shul@han ‘arukh, Hasidic tale, and Maskilic fiction are all constituents of a more widespread Ashkenazic form of the language with shared grammatical characteristics which have not yet been systematically documented. By highlighting these shared features and placing them within their broader linguistic context, the article seeks to contribute to a clearer understanding of Ashkenazic Hebrew and redress the scholarly inattention to this important form of the language.

Pronominal Anaphor Resolution and the Underlying Cognitive Mechanism

When people tend to refer to a previous mentioned discourse entity, they can use various types of anaphoric expressions, such as pronouns, definite noun phrases, proper names or expressions that are introduced by a lexical modifier or a comparative adjective. Among the different types of anaphoric expressions, pronoun is most common and frequently used which contains only a little information about the referent, while definite expressions contain much richer semantic information. As pronouns contain very little information on their own, they are always ambiguous. The cognitive mechanism that underlies the comprehension of pronouns, especially the ones with ambiguities, catches the interests of many researchers. Various tasks have been used to investigate this issue and the results did not go for the same direction. A combination of multiple research methods is needed for a better and deeper understanding of anaphora.

LOS NUMERALES DEFINIDOS DEL PURÉPECHA

RESUMEN: En purépecha (lengua aislada hablada en estado occidental de Michoacán, México) los numerales pueden presentarse con una marca final -perani. Este sufijo se ha descrito como colectivo y como distributivo. En este trabajo mostraré que las frases numerales con -perani tienen el significado de una frase nominal definida, pues sólo pueden aparecer en contextos en donde la cardinalidad del numeral es idéntica a la cardinalidad total del conjunto denotado por el sustantivo en la situación de uso. Además, las frases con -perani pueden tener usos anafóricos y no pueden emplearse para introducir por primera vez entidades en el discurso. La existencia de una marca explícita de definitud en los numerales contrasta con su total ausencia en las frases nominales sin numeral, pues, como se sabe, el purépecha es una lengua sin artículo definido. Hay algunas características en la distribución de los numerales con -perani que los hacen diferentes a los numerales con artículo definido de las lenguas europeas: los numerales con -perani pueden co-aparecer con demostrativos y no pueden funcionar como la coda de una expresión partitiva. Los numerales simples (sin -perani) pueden recibir interpretaciones indefinidas y partitivas, pero no pueden interpretarse como definidos.

Referential choice in narratives of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder: Form, function, and adequacy

This study investigates the referential choice of Mandarin-speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The data consist of narratives from 16 children with ASD and 16 typically-developing (TD) children. The narratives were elicited using the wordless picture book Frog, where are you? Participants’ referential expressions were coded in terms of referential form, function, and adequacy. The results revealed that, compared with the IQ- and language-matched TD children, the children with ASD used significantly more pronominal forms for subsequent mentions, showed insufficient ability to use definite and indefinite noun phrases to mark the information status of referents, and made fewer adequate reintroductions. Additionally, this study demonstrated the potential of the three-category classification to advance our understanding of referential choice in ASD. The outcomes underscore the importance of analyzing referential adequacy across referential functions, and suggest that referential functions are not equally difficult.

A Study of Inflectional Categories of Noun in Sistani Dialect

The present article aims to provide a synchronic study of the inflectional or morpho-syntactic categories of noun in Sistani dialect. These categories comprise person, number, gender or noun class, definiteness, case, and possession. Linguistic data was collected via recording free speech, and interviewing with 30 (15 females, 15 males) illiterate Sistani language consultants of age 40–102 years, living in central (Markazi) district of Zabol city in Sistan and Baluchestan province of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The research results indicate that nouns are inflected in three distinct persons i.e. first, second, and third persons with either singular or plural in number. Grammatical gender of nouns takes no specific morphological marker. As to the category of definiteness, this dialect makes use of syntactic devices (like demonstrative adjectives), and/or morphological devices (such as the use of /=ak/ and /=e/ clitics) to display the definite and indefinite nouns. Its case system is nominative-accusative system. In this regard, only the accusative or objective case marking is morphologically realized by the object marker /=a/. In addition, possession is expressed through the use of the word /ml=e/ ‘belonging to’ or the preposition /az/ ‘from, of’ along with nouns/noun phrases/personal pronouns and also applying ezɑfe - construction in the form of genitive structure.

Field Notes on Kono, a Southwestern Mande Lect of Forest Guinea1

Kono (knu) is a Southwestern Mande lect of the Republic of Guinea, not to be confused with Kono of Sierra Leone (kno, Kono-Vai group). It is a member of the Kpelle macro-language together with Guinean Kpelle (gkp) and Liberian Kpelle (xpe). This paper is a brief description of Kono based on the author’s field notes collected in the Republic of Guinea in 2009 and 2014. I discuss segmental and tonal phonology of Kono as well as its basic morphology and grammatical constructions. 100‑word Swadesh lists for Kono, Guinean and Liberian Kpelle are also provided. As I demonstrate in this sketch, Kono is lexically and grammatically distinct enough to be considered a separate language. Some phonological and grammatical phenomena in Kono, e.g. consonant harmony, first vowel elision in CVLV structures and obligatory pronominal doubling of definite noun phrases, suggest that, unlike other Kpelle lects, Kono has undergone a strong contact influence from Southern Mande.

Age-related Changes in Word Defining Abilities in Concrete and Abstract Nouns with Normal Elderly

본 연구는 일반노년층을 대상으로 단어정의하기 과제를 실시하여, 노화에 따른 구체명사와 추상명사의 단어정의하기 능력 변화를 살펴보았다. 대상자는 55~64세, 65~74세, 75~84세, 85세 이상의 네 개 연령집단으로 분류된 총 382명의 일반노인들이었다. 5개의 구체명사와 5개의 추상명사로 구성된 단어정의하기 과제를 실시하여, 단어정의 점수, 주요의미/부수의미의 개수 및 비율, 오류유형을 분석하였다. 연구 결과 구체명사의 정의점수, 주요의미/부수의미의 개수 및 비율은 네 집단 간 차이가 모두 유의하였다. 추상명사의 경우, 높은 연령집단인 75~84세와 85세 이상 집단 간 차이를 제외한 모든 연령집단 간 차이가 통계적으로 유의하였다. 오류의 산출빈도는 85세 이상 집단에서 급격한 증가를 보였으며 오류유형의 산출비율은 55~64세, 65~74세 집단에서 개인적 경험 오류, 75~84세 집단에서 목표어휘 반복 오류, 85세 이상 집단에서 무반응 오류가 가장 높았다. 이러한 결과는 구체명사와 추상명사 모두 노화가 진행됨에 따라 의미망 내에서의 어휘 및 의미자질들의 확산적 활성화가 제한되어 주요의미와 부수의미의 개수가 감소하고 이로 인해 단어에 대한 정의 내용 또한 빈약해진다는 것을 의미한다. 또한 연령이 높은 집단일수록 의미망 내에서 목표어휘와 가까운 거리에 있는 주요의미의 비율이 증가하였다. 본 연구는 다양한 연령대의 노인집단을 대상으로 단어정의하기 능력을 살펴보아, 노화에 따른 언어능력 특성을 제시하였다는 점에 의의가 있다.The purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of defining concrete and abstract nouns for the elderly. A total of 382 elderly participated in this study and they were classified into four age groups (i.e., over 55 to under 64, over 65 to under 74, over 75 to under 84, and over 85 year-old group). They performed the word definition task, composed of five concrete and five abstract nouns. The total scores and numbers and ratio of core/supplementary meanings were compared among four elderly groups. The frequency and ratio of error types were also examined. The results showed that all four groups had statistically significant differences in total scores, numbers and ratio of core and supplementary meaning of concrete noun definition task. In addition, abstract noun definition performances revealed group differences except the two groups (over 75 to under 84 and over 85-year-old group). The oldest group showed a sharp increase in error production. The highest ratio of error types were personal experience in over 55 to under 64-year-old group, and over 65 to under 74 year-old groups; and for the target word repetition in over 75 to under 84 year-old group; and no response in over 85 year-old group. In conclusion, both concrete and abstract word defining abilities had age-related deterioration. This decline results from impairment in spreading semantic knowledge within semantic network, which is vulnerable to aging. Characteristics of word definition for elderly can provide basic information to understand various neurolinguistic disorders associated with age.

The Contrast of the Gender between Albanian and English Language

In Albanian and English language, we have three kinds of gender: masculine, feminine and neuter. In Albanian language, the concept for gender, is: “Gjinia eshte nje nga kategorite gramatikore me karakteristike per emrat ne gjuhen shqipe. Nga natyra e saj, ajo dallohet nga kategorite e tjera te emrit, nga numri, rasa dhe nga kategorite e shquarsise dhe te pashquarsise, sepse i kundervihet mashkullore-femerore dhe asnjanese...”. This Albanian citation is possible to be the similar and within English language e.g: “a grouping of nouns and pronouns into classes’ masculine, feminine and neuter” or “gender differs from the grammatical categories, case, and definiteness, in being a lexical as well as inflection category of the noun. The gender to which a give word belongs is a property of that particular word independent of context”. The contrast of gender between two languages are e.g: the cases (five in Albanian with different endings and two in English), definite and indefinite nouns (the masculine nouns for Albanian language has some endings: -i, -it, -in, -it, -u, -un, -ut, for feminine -e,-a, -ja, -je, -s, -se, -ne, or for neuter nouns with –i, -it and for indefinite nouns is: /nje/. The definite nouns of English language has the article /the/ and for indefinite /a, an/ than in Albanina some endings. The definite nouns e.g: (masculine noun) mali – the mountain, liber-i – the book, kompjuter -i – the computer; mesues -i – the teacher; moter – sister, motra – the sister.