English determiners (also known as determinatives)
[
] are
word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
s – such as ''the'', ''a'', ''each'', ''some'', ''which'', ''this'', and ''six'' – that are most commonly used with
noun
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
s to specify their
referents. The
determiners form a closed
lexical category in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
.
The syntactic role characteristically performed by determiners is known as the determinative function (see ). A determinative combines with a noun (or, more formally, a nominal; see ) to form a
noun phrase
In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...
(NP). This function typically comes before any
modifiers
In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
in the NP (e.g., ''
some very pretty wool sweaters'', not ''*very pretty some wool sweaters''). The determinative function is typically obligatory in a singular, countable, common noun phrase (compare ''I have
a new cat'' to *''I have new cat'').
Semantically
Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and compu ...
, determiners are usually
definite or indefinite (e.g., ''
the cat'' versus ''
a cat''), and they often agree with the
number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...
of the
head noun (e.g., ''
a new cat'' but not *''
many new cat'').
Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect.
The most common of these are the definite and indefinite
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
, ''the'' and ''a''(''n''). Other determiners in English include the
demonstratives
Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...
''this'' and ''that'', and the
quantifiers (e.g., ''all'', ''many'', and ''none'') as well as the
numerals
A numeral is a figure, symbol, or group of figures or symbols denoting a number. It may refer to:
* Numeral system used in mathematics
* Numeral (linguistics), a part of speech denoting numbers (e.g. ''one'' and ''first'' in English)
* Numerical d ...
.
Determiners also occasionally function as modifiers in noun phrases (e.g., ''the
many changes''), determiner phrases (e.g., ''
many more'') or in
adjective
In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Tra ...
or
adverb phrases (e.g., ''not
that big'').
They may appear on their own without a noun, similar to
pronouns (e.g., ''I'll have
some''), but they are distinct from pronouns.
Terminology
Words and phrases can be categorized by both their syntactic category and their
syntactic function
In linguistics, grammatical relations (also called grammatical functions, grammatical roles, or syntactic functions) are functional relationships between constituents in a clause. The standard examples of grammatical functions from traditional gra ...
. In the clause ''the dog bit the man'', for example, ''the dog'' belongs to the syntactic category of noun phrase and performs the syntactic function of subject. The distinction between category and function is at the heart of a terminological issue surrounding the word ''determiner'': various grammars have used the word to describe a category, a function, or both.
Some sources, such as ''
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' is a descriptive grammar of English written by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. It was first published by Longman in 1985.
In 1991 it was called "The greate ...
'', use
determiner as a term for a category as defined above and ''determinative'' for the function that determiners and
possessives typically perform in a noun phrase (see ).
Others, such as ''
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language
''The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language'' (''CGEL'') is a descriptive grammar of the English language. Its primary authors are Rodney Huddleston and Geoffrey K. Pullum. Huddleston was the only author to work on every chapter. It was publ ...
'' (''CGEL''), make the opposite terminological choice.
And still others (e.g., ''The Grammar Book'') use
determiner for both the category and the function. This article uses ''determiner'' for the category and ''determinative'' for the function in the noun phrase.
The lexical category determiner is the class of words described in this article. They head determiner phrases, which can realize the functions determinative, predeterminative, and modifier:
* determiner phrases as determinatives: ''
the box'', ''
this hill''
* determiner phrases as predeterminatives: ''
all the time'', ''
both those cars''
* determiner phrases as modifiers: ''these
two images'', ''clear
enough''
The syntactic function determinative is a function that specifies a noun phrase. That is, determinatives add abstract meanings to the noun phrase, such as definiteness, proximity, number, and the like.
While the determinative function is typically realized by determiner phrases, they may also be realized by noun phrases and prepositional phrases:
* noun phrases as determinatives: ''
my question'', ''
this size room''
* prepositional phrases as determinatives: ''
over twenty belts'', ''
up to a hundred people''
This article is about determiners as a lexical category.
History
Traditional grammar
Traditional grammar (also known as classical grammar) is a framework for the description of the structure of a language. The roots of traditional grammar are in the work of classical Greek language, Greek and Latin language, Latin Philology, phil ...
has no concept to match determiners, which are instead classified as
adjectives
In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun.
Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the mai ...
, articles, or pronouns.
The
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
and demonstratives have sometimes been seen as forming their own category, but are often classified as adjectives. Linguist and historian
Peter Matthews observes that the assumption that determiners are distinct from adjectives is relatively new, "an innovation of … the early 1960s."
In 1892, prior to the emergence of the determiner category in English grammars,
Leon Kellner
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...
discussed the idea of "determination" of a noun:
In Old English the possessive pronoun, or, as the French say, "pronominal adjective," expresses only the conception of belonging and possession; it is a real adjective, and does not convey, as at present, the idea of determination. If, therefore, Old English authors want to make nouns preceded by possessive pronouns determinative, they add the definite article.
By 1924,
Harold Palmer had proposed a part of speech called "Pronouns and Determinatives", effectively "group
ngwith the pronouns all determinative adjectives (e.g., article-like, demonstratives, possessives, numerals, etc.),
ndshortening the term to determinatives (the "déterminatifs" of the French grammarians)."
Palmer separated this category from more prototypical adjectives (what he calls "qualificative adjectives") because, unlike prototypical adjectives, words in this category are not used predicatively, tend not to inflect for comparison, and tend not to be modified.
In 1933,
Leonard Bloomfield
Leonard Bloomfield (April 1, 1887 – April 18, 1949) was an American linguist who led the development of structural linguistics in the United States during the 1930s and the 1940s. He is considered to be the father of American distributionalis ...
introduced the term
determiner used in this article, which appears to define a syntactic function performed by "limiting adjectives".
Our limiting adjectives fall into two sub-classes of determiners and numeratives … The determiners are defined by the fact that certain types of noun expressions (such as ''house'' or ''big house'') are always accompanied by a determiner (as, ''this house'', ''a big house'').
Matthews argues that the next important contribution was by Ralph B. Long in 1961, though Matthews notes that Long's contribution is largely ignored in the bibliographies of later prominent grammars, including ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' and ''CGEL''. Matthews illustrates Long's analysis with the noun phrase ''this boy'': "''this'' is no longer, in
ong'saccount, an adjective. It is instead a pronoun, of a class he called ‘determinative’, and it has the function of a ‘determinative modifier’."
This analysis was developed in a 1962 grammar by Barbara M. H. Strang
and in 1972 by
Randolph Quirk
Charles Randolph Quirk, Baron Quirk, CBE, FBA (12 July 1920 – 20 December 2017) was a British linguist and life peer. He was the Quain Professor of English language and literature at University College London from 1968 to 1981. He sat as ...
and colleagues.
In 1985, ''
A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language
''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' is a descriptive grammar of English written by Randolph Quirk, Sidney Greenbaum, Geoffrey Leech, and Jan Svartvik. It was first published by Longman in 1985.
In 1991 it was called "The greate ...
'' appears to have been the first work to explicitly conceive of determiner as a distinct lexical category.
Determiners as heads?
Until the late 1980s, linguists assumed that, in a phrase like ''the red ball'', the
head was the noun ''ball'' and that ''the'' was a
dependent
A dependant is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income. A common-law spouse who is financially supported by their partner may also be included in this definition. In some jurisdictions, supporting a dependant may enabl ...
. But a student at MIT named Paul Abney proposed, in his PhD dissertation about
English noun phrases (NPs) in 1987, that the head was not the noun ''ball'' but the determiner ''the'', so that ''the red ball'' is a determiner phrase (DP).
This has come to be known as the DP analysis or the DP hypothesis (see
Determiner phrase In linguistics, a determiner phrase (DP) is a type of phrase headed by a determiner such as ''many''. Controversially, many approaches, take a phrase like ''not very many apples'' to be a DP, headed, in this case, by the determiner ''many''. This i ...
), and it is the majority view in
generative grammar
Generative grammar, or generativism , is a linguistic theory that regards linguistics as the study of a hypothesised innate grammatical structure. It is a biological or biologistic modification of earlier structuralist theories of linguisti ...
today, though it is rejected in other perspectives.
Determiners versus other lexical categories
Adjectives
The main similarity between adjectives and determiners is that they can both appear immediately before nouns (e.g., ''
many''/''
happy people'').
The key difference between adjectives and determiners in English is that adjectives cannot function as determinatives. The determinative function is an element in NPs that is obligatory in most singular countable NPs and typically occurs before any modifiers (see ). For example, ''*I live in
small house'' is ungrammatical because ''small house'' is a singular countable NP lacking a determinative. The adjective ''small'' is a modifier, not a determinative. In contrast, if the adjective is replaced or preceded by a possessive NP (''I live in
my house'') or a determiner (''I live in
that house''), then it becomes grammatical because possessive NPs and determiners function as determinatives.
There are a variety of other differences between the categories. Determiners appear in
partitive In linguistics, the partitive is a word, phrase, or case that indicates partialness. Nominal partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be classified semantically as either set partitives or entity partitives ba ...
constructions, while adjectives do not (e.g., ''
some of the people'' but not ''*
happy of the people'').
Adjectives can function as a predicative complement in a verb phrase (e.g., ''that was
lovely''), but determiners typically cannot (e.g., ''*that was every'').
Adjectives are not typically definite or indefinite, while determiners are.
Adjectives as modifiers in a noun phrase do not need to agree in number with a head noun (e.g., ''old book'', ''old books'') while determiners do (e.g., ''
this book'', ''
these books'').
Morphologically, adjectives often inflect for grade (e.g., ''big'', ''bigger'', ''biggest''), while few determiners do.
Finally, adjectives can typically form adverbs by adding ''-ly'' (e.g., ''cheap'' → ''cheaply''), while determiners cannot.
The boundary between determiner and adjective is not always clear, however. In the case of the word ''many'', for example, the distinction between determiner and adjective is fuzzy, and different linguists and grammarians have placed this term into different categories. ''The CGEL'' categorizes ''many'' as a determiner because it can appear in partitive constructions, as in ''many of them''.
Alternatively, Bas Aarts offers three reasons to support the analysis of ''many'' as an adjective. First, it can be modified by ''very'' (as in ''his very many sins''), which is a characteristic typical of certain adjectives but not of determiners. Second, it can occur as a predicative complement: ''his sins are many''. Third, ''many'' has a comparative and superlative form (''more'' and ''most'', respectively).
Pronouns
Possessive pronouns such as ''my'' and ''your''
There is disagreement about whether possessive words such as ''my'' and ''your'' are determiners or not. For example, ''Collins
COBUILD
COBUILD, an acronym for Collins Birmingham University International Language Database, is a British research facility set up at the University of Birmingham in 1980 and funded by Collins publishers.
The facility was initially led by Professor Jo ...
Grammar
'' classifies them as determiners while ''CGEL'' classify them as pronouns
and ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' has them dually classified as determiners''
'' and as pronouns in determinative function.''
''
The main reason for classifying these possessive words as determiners is that, like determiners, they usually function as determinative in an NP (e.g., ''my'' / ''the cat'').
Reasons for calling them
pronouns and not determiners include that the pronouns typically inflect (e.g., ''I, me, my, mine, myself''),
while determiners typically allow no morphological change.
Determiners also appear in
partitive In linguistics, the partitive is a word, phrase, or case that indicates partialness. Nominal partitives are syntactic constructions, such as "some of the children", and may be classified semantically as either set partitives or entity partitives ba ...
constructions, while pronouns do not (e.g., ''
some of the people'' but not ''*my of the people'').
Also, some determiners can be modified by adverbs (e.g., ''very
many''), but this is not possible for pronouns.
''We'' / ''us'' and ''you''
The words ''you'' and ''we'' share features commonly associated with both determiners and pronouns in constructions such as ''we teachers do not get paid enough''. On the one hand, the phrase-initial position of these words is a characteristic they share with determiners (compare ''the teachers''). Furthermore, they cannot combine with more prototypical determiners (*''the we teachers''), which suggests that they fill the same role.
These characteristics have led linguists and grammarians like
Ray Jackendoff
Ray Jackendoff (born January 23, 1945) is an American linguist. He is professor of philosophy, Seth Merrin Chair in the Humanities and, with Daniel Dennett, co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He has always st ...
and Steven Paul Abney to categorize such uses of ''we'' and ''you'' as determiners.
[Abney, Steven Paul (1987). ]
The English Noun Phrase in Its Sentential Aspect
' (PhD). Unpublished dissertation. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
On the other hand, these words can show case contrast (e.g., ''us teachers''), a feature that, in Modern English, is typical of pronouns but not of determiners.
Thus, Evelyne Delorme and
Ray C. Dougherty treat words like ''us'' as pronouns in
apposition
Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and one of the elements is ...
with the noun phrases that follow them, an analysis that ''
Merriam–Webster's Dictionary of English Usage
''Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage'' is a usage dictionary published by Merriam-Webster, Inc., of Springfield, Massachusetts . It is currently available in a reprint edition (1994) or . (The 1989 edition did not include ''Merriam-'' ...
'' also follows.
Richard Hudson and Mariangela Spinillo also categorize these words as pronouns but without assuming an appositive relationship between the pronoun and the rest of the noun phrase.
Adverbs
There is disagreement about whether ''that'' is a determiner or a degree adverb in clauses like ''it is not that unusual''. For example, ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' categorizes this use of ''that'' as an adverb. This analysis is supported by the fact that other pre-head modifiers of adjectives that "
intensify
''Intensify'' is the second studio album by English electronic music duo Way Out West, released on 20 August 2001 by Distinct'ive Records. The album was marked by a move from the defunct Deconstruction Records label to Distinctive, and a chang ...
" their meaning tend to be adverbs, such as ''awfully'' in ''awfully sorry'' and ''too'' in ''too bright''.
On the other hand, Aarts categorizes this word as a determiner, a categorization also used in ''CGEL''.
This analysis can be supported by expanding the determiner phrase: ''it is not all that unusual''. ''All'' can function as a premodifier of determiners (e.g., ''all that cake'') but not adjectives (e.g., *''all unusual''), which leads Aarts to suggest that ''that'' is a determiner.
Various quantificational expressions
Expressions with similar quantification meanings such as ''a lot of'', ''lots of'', ''plenty of'', ''a great deal of'', ''tons of'', etc. are sometimes said to be determiners,
while other grammars argue that they are not words, or even phrases. The non-determiner analysis is that they consist of the first part of a noun phrase.
For example, ''a lot of work'' is a noun phrases with ''lot'' as its head. It has a
preposition phrase
An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...
complement
A complement is something that completes something else.
Complement may refer specifically to:
The arts
* Complement (music), an interval that, when added to another, spans an octave
** Aggregate complementation, the separation of pitch-clas ...
beginning with the preposition ''of''. In this view, they could be considered
lexicographical
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries.
* Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries.
* Theoreti ...
units, but they are not syntactic constituents.
The syntax of determiners and determiner phrases
''For the sake of this section, Abney's DP hypothesis'' (see ) ''is set aside. In other words, here a DP is taken to be a dependent in a noun phrase (NP) and not the other way around.''
Internal structure
A determiner phrase (DP) is headed by a determiner and optionally takes dependents. DPs can take modifiers, which are usually adverb phrases (e.g.,
almost no''">'almost no''''people'') or determiner phrases (e.g.,
many more''">'many more''''people'') .
Comparative determiners like ''fewer'' or ''more'' can take ''than'' prepositional phrase (PP) complements (e.g., ''it weighs''
than five''">'less than five''''grams'').
The following tree diagram in the style of ''CGEL'' shows the DP ''far fewer than twenty'', with the adverb ''far'' as a modifier and the PP ''than twenty'' as a complement.
Functions
Determinative
As stated above, there is some terminological confusion about the terms "determiner" and "determinative". In this article, "determiner" is a lexical category while "determinative" is the function most typically performed by determiner phrases (in the same way that "adjective" denotes a category of words while "modifier" denotes the most typical function of adjective phrases). DPs are not the only phrases that can function as determinative, but they are the most common.
A determinative is a function only in noun phrases. It is usually the leftmost
constituent
Constituent or constituency may refer to:
Politics
* An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization
* Advocacy group or constituency
* Constituent assembly
* Constituencies of Namibia
Other meanings
* Const ...
in the phrase, appearing before any modifiers.
A noun phrase may have many modifiers, but only one determinative is possible.
In most cases, a singular, countable, common noun requires a determinative to form a noun phrase, plurals and uncountables do not.
The determinative is underlined in the following examples:
* ''
the box''
* ''
not very many boxes''
* ''even
the very best workmanship''
* ''
my uncle's house'' (the determinative is an NP, not a DP)
* ''
what size shoes'' (the determinative is an NP, not a DP)
The most common function of a DP is determinative in an NP. This is shown in the following
syntax tree Syntax tree may refer to:
* Abstract syntax tree, used in computer science
* Concrete syntax tree
A parse tree or parsing tree or derivation tree or concrete syntax tree is an ordered, rooted tree that represents the syntactic structure of a str ...
in the style of ''CGEL''. It features two determiner phrases, ''all'' in predeterminer modifier function (see ), and ''the'' in determinative function (labeled Det:DP).
Predeterminative
If noun phrases can only contain one determinative, the following noun phrases present challenges:
* ''all the time''
* ''both those cars''
The determiner phrase ''the'' functions as the determinative in ''all the time'', and ''those'' functions as the determinative in ''both those cars''. But ''all'' and ''both'' also have specifying roles rather than modifying roles in the noun phrase, much like the determinatives do. To account for noun phrases like these, ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' also recognizes the function of predeterminative (or predeterminer).
Some linguists and grammarians offer different accounts of these constructions. ''CGEL'', for instance, classifies them as a kind of modifier in noun phrases.
Predeterminatives are typically realized by determiner phrases (e.g., ''all'' in ''all the time''). However, they can also be realized by noun phrases (e.g., ''one-fifth the size'') and adverb phrases (''e.g., thrice the rate'').
Modifier
Determiner phrases can function as pre-head modifiers in noun phrases, adjective phrases, and adverb phrases. They can function as pre-head modifiers in noun phrases, such as the determiner phrase ''two'' in ''these two images''. In this example, ''these'' functions as the determinative of the noun phrase, and ''two'' functions as a modifier of the head ''images''.
Determiner phrases can also function as pre-head modifiers in adjective phrases—
AdjP_[DP_''the''">sub>AdjP_[DP_''the''''more''.html" ;"title="sub>DP_''the''.html" ;"title="sub>AdjP [
DP ''the''">sub>AdjP [
DP ''the''''more''">sub>DP_''the''.html" ;"title="sub>AdjP [
DP ''the''">sub>AdjP [
DP ''the''''more''',''
AdjP [DP ''the''">sub>AdjP [DP ''the''''merrier'']—and adverb phrases: [
AdvP [
DP ''the''] ''longer''] ''this dish cooks,'' [
AdvP [
DP ''the''] ''better''] ''it tastes'').
Determiner phrases can also function as post-head modifiers in these phrases. For example, the determiners ''each'', ''enough'', ''less'', and ''more'' can function as post-head modifiers of noun phrases, as in the determiner phrase ''each'' in ''two seats each''.
''Enough'' can fill the same role in adjective phrases (e.g., ''clear enough'') and in adverb phrases (e.g., ''funnily enough'').
DPs also function as modifiers in DPs (e.g.,
that many''">'not'' ''that many''''people'').
.
Fusion of functions
Determiners may bear two functions at one time. Usually this is a fusion of determinative and head in an NP where no head noun exists. In the clause ''many would disagree'', the determiner ''many'' is the fused determinative-head in the NP that functions as the subject.
In many grammars, both traditional and modern, and in almost all dictionaries, such words are considered to be pronouns rather than determiners.
Types of determiners
Multiple words can belong to the same part of speech but still differ from each other to various extents, with similar words forming subclasses of the part of speech. For example, the articles ''a'' and ''the'' have more in common with each other than with the demonstratives ''this'' or ''that'', but both belong to the class of determiner and, thus, share more characteristics with each other than with words from other parts of speech. Article and demonstrative, then, can be considered subclasses or types of determiners.
Morphological types
Compound determiners
Most determiners are very basic in their morphology, but some are compounds.
A large group of these is formed with the words ''any'', ''every'', ''no'', and ''some'' together with ''body'', ''one'', ''thing'', or ''where'' (e.g., ''anybody'', ''somewhere'').
The morphological phenomenon started in
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
, when ''thing'', was combined with ''some'', ''any'', and ''no''. In
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
, it would combine with ''every''.
The cardinal numbers greater than 99 are also compound determiners.
This group also includes ''a few'' and ''a little'',
and Payne, Huddleston, and Pullum argue that ''once'', ''twice'', and ''thrice'' also belong here, and not in the adverb category.
Gradable
Although most determiners do not inflect, the following determiners participate in the system of
grade
Grade most commonly refers to:
* Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance
* Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage
* Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope
Grade or grading may also ref ...
.
Syntactic and semantic types
The following types of determiners are organized, first, syntactically according to their typical position in a noun phrase in relation to each other and, then, according to their semantic contributions to the noun phrase. This first division, based on categorization from ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'', includes three categories:
* Central determiners occur after any predeterminers and before any postdeterminers; they tend to function as determinatives regardless of the presence or absence of other determiners in the noun phrase.
*Predeterminers occur before any other determiner in the noun phrase and often function as a determinative when no other word is filling that role or as a predeterminative when the determinative role is already filled.
* Postdeterminers occur after all other determiners and often function as a determinative when no other word is filling that role or as a pre-head modifier of a noun phrase when the determinative role is filled.
The secondary divisions are based on the semantic contributions of the determiner to a noun phrase. The subclasses are named according to the labels assigned in ''CGEL'' and the ''Oxford Modern English Grammar'', which use essentially the same labels.
Central determiners
= Articles
=
According to CGEL,
articles
Article often refers to:
* Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness
* Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication
Article may also refer to:
G ...
serve as "the most basic expression of definiteness and indefiniteness."
That is, while other determiners express definiteness and other kinds of meaning, articles serve primarily as markers of definiteness. The articles are generally considered to be:
[Aarts, Bas (2011). "Table 3.11." In Bas, Aarts (ed.). ''Oxford Modern English Grammar.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 59. ]
*''
the
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' (definite)
*''a''(''n'') (indefinite)
Other articles have been posited, including unstressed ''some'', a zero article (indefinite with mass and plural) and a null article (definite with singular proper nouns).
= Demonstrative determiners
=
The two main
demonstrative determiners are ''this'' and ''that''. Their respective plural forms are ''these'' and ''those''.
The demonstrative determiners mark noun phrases as definite. They also add meaning related to spatial
deixis; that is, they indicate where the thing referenced by the noun is in relation to the speaker. The proximal ''this'' signals that the thing is relatively close to the speaker while the distal ''that'' signals that the thing is relatively far.
CGEL classifies the archaic and dialectal ''yonder'' (as in the noun phrase ''yonder hills'') as a marginal demonstrative determiner.
''Yonder'' signals that the thing referenced by the noun is far from the speaker, typically farther than what ''that'' would signal. Thus, we would expect yonder hills to be farther from the speaker than those hills. Unlike the main demonstrative determiners, ''yonder'' does not inflect for number (compare ''yonder hill'').
= Distributive determiners
=
The following are the distributive determiners:
* ''each''
* ''every''
The distributive determiners mark noun phrases as indefinite. They also add distributive meaning; that is, "they pick out the members of a set singly, rather than considering them in mass."
Because they signal this distributive meaning, these determiners select singular noun heads when functioning as determinatives in noun phrases (e.g., ''each student'').
= Existential determiners
=
The following are the existential determiners:
* ''any''
* ''some''
Existential determiners mark a noun phrase as indefinite. They also convey
existential quantification
In predicate logic, an existential quantification is a type of quantifier, a logical constant which is interpreted as "there exists", "there is at least one", or "for some". It is usually denoted by the logical operator symbol ∃, which, ...
, meaning that they assert the existence of a thing in a quantity greater than zero.
= Disjunctive determiners
=
The following are the disjunctive determiners:
* ''either''
* ''neither''
Disjunctive determiners mark a noun phrase as definite. They also imply a single selection from a set of exactly two.
Because they signal a single selection, disjunctive determiners select singular nouns when functioning as determinatives in noun phrases (e.g., ''either side''). ''A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language'' does not recognize this category and instead label ''either'' an "assertive determiner" and ''neither'' a "negative determiner."
= Negative determiner
=
The
negative determiner is ''no'' with its independent form ''none''.
Distinct dependent and independent forms are otherwise found only in possessive pronouns, where the dependent is only found with a subsequent noun and the independent without (e.g., ''my way'' and ''no way'' are dependent, while ''mine'' and ''none'' are independent).
''No'' signifies that not one member of a set or sub-quantity of a quantity under consideration has a particular property. ''Neither'' also conveys this kind of meaning but is only used when selecting from a set of exactly two, which is why ''neither'' is typically classified as disjunctive rather than negative.
= Additive determiner
=
The additive determiner is ''another''.
''Another'' was formed from the compounding of the indefinite article ''an'' and the adjective ''other''; thus, it marks a noun phrase as indefinite. It also conveys additive meaning. For example, ''another banana'' signals an additional banana in addition to some first banana. ''Another'' can also mark an alternative. For example, ''another banana'' can also signal a different banana, perhaps one that is riper. Because it can also convey this alternative meaning, ''another'' is sometimes labeled an alternative-additive determiner.
= Sufficiency determiners
=
The following are the sufficiency determiners:
* ''enough''
* ''sufficient''
These determiners convey inexact quantification that is framed in terms of some minimum quantity needed. For instance, ''enough money for a taxi'' implies that a minimum amount of money is necessary to pay for a taxi and that the amount of money in question is sufficient for the purpose. When functioning as determinatives in a noun phrase, sufficiency determiners select plural count nouns (e.g., ''sufficient reasons'') or non-count nouns (e.g., ''enough money'').
= Interrogative determiners
=
The following are the
interrogative determiners:
*''what''
*''which''
These determiners can also be followed by -''ever'' and -''soever''. Interrogative determiners are typically used in the formation of questions, as in ''what/which conductor do you like best?'' Using ''what'' marks a noun phrase as indefinite while using ''which'' marks the noun phrase as definite, being used when the context implies a limited number of choices.
= Relative determiners
=
The following are the relative determiners:
*''what''
*''which''
These determiners can also be followed by -''ever''. Relative determiners typically function as determiners in noun phrases that introduce
relative clauses
A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...
, as in ''we can use whatever/whichever edition you want''.
Predeterminers
= Personal determiners
=
In grammars that consider them determiners rather than pronouns (see ), the personal determiners are the following:
* ''we''
* ''you''
Though these words are normally pronouns, in phrases like ''we teachers'' and ''you guys'', they are sometimes classified as personal determiners. Personal determiners mark a noun phrase as definite. They also add meaning related to personal deixis; that is, they indicate whether the thing referenced by the noun includes the speaker (''we/us'') or at least one addressee and not the speaker (''you'').
In some dialects such as the Ozark dialect, this usage extends to ''them'' as in ''them folks''.
= Universal determiners
=
The following are the universal determiners:
* ''all''
* ''both''
Universal determiners convey
universal quantification
In mathematical logic, a universal quantification is a type of quantifier, a logical constant which is interpreted as "given any" or "for all". It expresses that a predicate can be satisfied by every member of a domain of discourse. In other ...
, meaning that they assert that no subset of a thing exists that lacks the property that is described. For example, saying "all the vegetables are ripe" is the same as saying "no vegetables are not ripe."
The primary difference between ''all'' and ''both'' is that ''both'' applies only to sets with exactly two members while ''all'' lacks this limitation. But CGEL notes that because of the possibility of using ''both'' instead, ''all'' "generally strongly
implicates 'more than two.'"
Postdeterminers
= Cardinal numerals
=
Cardinal numerals (''zero'', ''one'', ''two'', ''thirty-four'', etc.) can represent any number. Therefore, the members of this subclass of determiner are infinite in quantity and cannot be listed in full.
Cardinal numerals are typically thought to express the exact number of the things represented by the noun, but this exactness is through
implicature
In pragmatics, a subdiscipline of linguistics, an implicature is something the speaker suggests or implies with an utterance, even though it is not literally expressed. Implicatures can aid in communicating more efficiently than by explicitly sayi ...
rather than necessity. In the clause ''five people complained'', for example, the number of people complaining is usually thought to be exactly five. But technically, the proposition would still be true if additional people were complaining as well: if seven people were complaining, then it is also necessarily true that five people were complaining. General norms of cooperative conversation, however, make it such that cardinal numerals typically express the exact number (e.g., five = no more and no less than five) unless otherwise modified (e.g., ''at least five'' or ''at most five'').
= Positive paucal determiners
=
The following are the positive paucal determiners:
* ''a few''
* ''a little''
* ''certain''
* ''several''
* ''various''
The positive paucal determiners convey a small, imprecise quantity—generally characterized as greater than two but smaller than whatever quantity is considered large. When functioning as determinatives in a noun phrase, most paucal determiners select plural count nouns (e.g., ''a few mistakes''), but ''a little'' selects non-count nouns (e.g., ''a little money'').
= Degree determiners
=
In grammars that consider them determiners rather than adjectives (see ), the degree determiners are the following:
* ''few''
* ''little''
* ''many''
* ''much''
Degree determiners mark a noun phrase as indefinite. They also convey imprecise quantification, with ''many'' and ''much'' expressing a large quantity and ''few'' and ''little'' expressing a small quantity. Degree determiners are unusual in that they inflect for grade, a feature typical of adjectives and adverbs but not determiners. The comparative forms of ''few'', ''little'', ''many'', and ''much'' are ''fewer'', ''less'', ''more'', and ''more'' respectively. The superlative forms are ''fewest'', ''least'', ''most'', and ''most'' respectively.
The plain forms can be modified with adverbs, especially ''very'', ''too'' and ''so'' (and ''not'' can also be added). Note that unmodified ''much'' is quite rarely used in affirmative statements in colloquial English.
#
Semantics
The main
semantic contributions of determiners are
quantification and
definiteness
In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical ...
.
Quantification
Many determiners express quantification.
* Most obviously,
cardinal numbers
In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. The ...
(''zero'', ''one'', ''two'', etc.) express quantification.
*The degree determiners ''much/many'', ''little/few'', and their
comparative
general linguistics, the comparative is a syntactic construction that serves to express a comparison between two (or more) entities or groups of entities in quality or degree - see also comparison (grammar) for an overview of comparison, as well ...
and
superlative forms ''more'', ''most'', ''less/fewer'', ''least/fewest'' all express quantification. Where two forms are given, the first is used with non-count nouns and the second with
count nouns
In linguistics, a count noun (also countable noun) is a noun that can be modified by a quantity and that occurs in both singular and plural forms, and that can co-occur with quantificational determiners like ''every'', ''each'', ''several'', et ...
(although in colloquial English ''less'' and ''least'' are frequently also used with count nouns).
* The positive paucal determiners also express quantification. These are ''a few/a little'', ''several'', ''a couple of'', ''a bit of'', ''a number of'' etc.
* Finally, determiners expressing maximum, sufficient or zero quantity all express quantification. These are ''all'', ''both'', ''enough'', ''sufficient'', ''no''.
Definiteness
From a semantic point of view, a
definite NP is one that is identifiable and activated in the minds of the
first person and the addressee. From a grammatical point of view in English, definiteness is typically marked by definite determiners, such as ''the'', ''that'', and ''this'', ''all'', ''every'', ''both'', etc. Linguists find it useful to make a distinction between the grammatical feature of definiteness and the cognitive feature of identifiability.
This accounts for cases of
form-meaning mismatch
In linguistics, a form-meaning mismatch is a natural mismatch between the grammatical form and its expected meaning. Such form-meaning mismatches happen everywhere in language. Nevertheless, there is often an expectation of a one-to-one relation ...
, where a definite determiner results in an indefinite NP, such as the example ''I met
this guy from Heidelberg on the train'', where the underlined NP is grammatically definite but semantically indefinite.
The majority of determiners, however, are indefinite. These include the indefinite article ''a'', but also most quantifiers, including the cardinal numerals.
Pragmatics
Choosing the definite article over no article in a pair like ''the Americans'' and ''Americans'' can have the
pragmatic
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement.
Pragmatism or pragmatic may also refer to:
*Pragmaticism, Charles Sanders Peirce's post-1905 branch of philosophy
*Pragmatics, a subfield of linguistics and semiotics
*''Pragmatics'', an academic journal in ...
effect of depicting "the group as a monolith of which the speaker is not a part." Relatedly, the choice between ''this'' and ''that'' may have an evaluative purpose, where ''this'' suggest a closeness, and therefore a more positive evaluation.
See also
*
List of English determiners
*
English pronouns
The English pronouns form a relatively small category of words in Modern English whose primary semantic function is that of a pro-form for a noun phrase. Traditional grammars consider them to be a distinct part of speech, while most modern gra ...
Notes
References
{{reflist
External links
*
List of English determiners on Wiktionary
*
Determiners