The Bantu-Salish connection in determiner semantics

This paper provides a semantic analysis of the D(eterminer)-system in Nata (Eastern Bantu), and compares it with strikingly similar D-system St’át’imcets (Salish). Our core proposal is that both languages, major distinction encoded by Ds correlates presence vs. absence speaker commitment to existence referent for noun phrase.We show neither nor encode well-known distinctions like definiteness or specificity. Instead, they reflect speaker’s (un)willingness commit DP. Despite these parallels, two D-systems are not identical. In St’át’imcets, notion based on personal knowledge; Nata, also used entities which surmised exist, future possibilities. We derive difference between ‘knowledge existence’ ‘belief from independent differences evidential systems languages. work contributes landscape potential determiner meanings across languages.