Amount definites

Weak Definites

An alternative approach to the semantics of definite descriptions was proposed by Heim in her dissertation [1982]. Heim assigns to pragmatics a larger part of the task of specifying the meaning of definite descriptions than the neo-Russellians do. In Heim’s theory, definite and indefinite NPs are semantically equivalent, and both introduce free variables. The truth conditions proposed by Heim f...

Seemingly Indefinite Definites

From the time of Bertrand Russell, the semantics of the English definite article has been the object of continued semantic analysis. Most analyses make some use of the notions of uniqueness, or familiarity, however defined more precisely (see for instance Roberts, 2003, for one recent analysis and review). In this paper, though, we wish to motivate through both experimental and non-experimental...

Coordinated Bare Definites

Recent work on the syntax and semantics of functional projections within the noun phrase has had as one goal an explanation for the crosslinguistic distribution of “bare” (determinerless) noun phrases. This article provides an account for an apparent anomaly: the relatively free occurrence of bare noun phrases under coordination. We argue that this construction involves coordination of projecti...

Varieties of Definites

Designer Definites in Logical Form

In this paper, we represent singular definite noun phrases as functions in logical form. This representation is designed to model the behaviors of both anaphoric and non-anaphoric, distributive definites. It is also designed to obey the computational constraints suggested in Harper [Har88]. Our initial representation of a definite places an upper bound on its behavior given its structure and lo...