Non-maximal definites in Romance
Gerards, David Paul (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz)
Stark, Elisabeth (University of Zurich)

Fecha:	2022
Resumen:	Mainly based on data from Old Spanish and Modern Francoprovençal, this paper discusses a hitherto underresearched use of the Romance definite article that cannot straightforwardly be explained by recurring to any of the standard analyses of semantic definiteness, i. e. , maximality and/or familiarity. We show that such weakly referential definites are definites with representative object interpretations licensed by the kind-oriented mode of talk and not short weak definites. They denote inherently non-specific, semantically number neutral regular objects whose only co(n)textual relevance is their being typical instantiations of their corresponding kind. Representative object definites are shown to be favored by 'habitual' readings of the predicate (and text genres like recipes, treatises, narratives about what people used to do in former times, etc. ). In Francoprovençal, this is the case especially in the scope of non-perfective verb tenses in prepositional or presentational complements and sometimes in direct objects. In Old Spanish, non-maximal definites often occur in the scope of non-assertive mood (imperative/subjunctive, due to the genre of recipes), while, at the same time, introducing important discourse referents. In addition, in the latter language such definites are demonstrated to be positively susceptible to priming by preceding non-maximal definites.
Nota:	Acknowledgments. We hereby acknowledge and thank for the generous support by URPP Language and Space/University of Zurich (https://www.spur.uzh.ch/en.html) as well as by the Swiss National Science Foundation and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SNSF/DFG; project DiFuPaRo: Distribution and Function of 'Partitive Articles' in Romance: a microvariation analysis; grant number: SNSF ID: 100012L_172751, DFG ID: PO1642/8-1).
Derechos:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Lengua:	Anglès
Documento:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Materia:	Non-maximal definite articles ; Representative object interpretations ; Kind-oriented mode of talk ; Weak referentiality ; Weak definites ; Old spanish ; Old portuguese ; Francoprovençal
Publicado en:	Isogloss, Vol. 8 Núm. 5 (2022) , p. 1-32 (Articles) , ISSN 2385-4138

Adreça original: https://revistes.uab.cat/isogloss/article/view/v8-n5-gerards-stark
DOI: 10.5565/rev/isogloss.236

32 p, 592.7 KB

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