Determiner spreading
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In
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
, determiner spreading (DS), also known as Multiple or Double Determiners is the appearance of more than one
determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
associated with 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 ...
, usually marking an
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 ...
as well as the
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, d ...
itself. The extra determiner has been called an adjectival determiner because determiner spreading is most commonly found in adjectival phrases. Typical examples involve multiple occurrences of the definite article or definiteness marking, such is found in (but not limited to) the languages listed below. The structure of such phrases is widely discussed and there is not one conclusive analysis. Because of this, the example languages below each show unique structure where different proposed analyses have been used. Researchers have found when a language shows ellipsis within a
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 is ...
, and in particular those with adjective phrases, determiner spreading does not occur. Due to this, we do not find determiner spreading in languages such as
Romance Languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...
as well as
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 ...
.


Languages with determiner spreading


Determiner spreading in Albanian

Determiner spreading is found in
Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...
where two definite articles are used for just one referent ''boy''. As shown in (1) and (2), the ordering of the noun and the adjective does not matter, as long as the determiner falls before the adjective. In Albanian, either of these sentence constructions in (1) and (2) are grammatical to mean ''the good boy''. In both of the sentences the determiner ''i'' marks the referent ''boy''. It is noted that the determiner ''i'' is a morphological entity to mark the adjectival class rather than definiteness of the noun, as is found in Greek below.


Modern Greek

In
Modern Greek Modern Greek (, , or , ''Kiní Neoellinikí Glóssa''), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the ...
, determiner spreading is not obligatory, and it contrasts with a non-spreading example in (3): (3) The sentence above has an ambiguous meaning explained by the last two lines in the sentence above in (3). Both the meanings (i) and (ii) are grammatical with non-determiner spreading. However when DS is introduced, the sentence no longer takes on an ambiguous meaning. Determiner spreading in the example in (4) has eliminated the ambiguity, rendering the second meaning in (ii) to be ungrammatical. (4) The question that is being posed in (5) requires an answer to differentiate which kind of pen, silver or gold. The response in (6) shows determiner spreading occurring because the adjective is a "restrictive modifier". (5) (6) Researchers believe that determiner spreading only occurs when the phrase has an "intersective reading". Meaning that the focus of the sentence is the kind of pen rather than the pen itself. The determiner spreading is syntactically how a speaker can give stress to a phrase in Modern Greek. It has been suggested that the same result of focus on the type of pen can be acquired
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 comput ...
by giving focus to the adjective, as marked by capital letters in (7). (7) A commonality between the Greek examples we have seen thus far is that determiner spreading is obligatorily definite
Article (grammar) An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" ar ...
in Greek. Another language specific observation is that the determiner precedes the adjective. Researchers suggest that in order for an adjective to appear post-nominally, the determiner must precede the adjective to be grammatical in Greek. The examples below in (8) and (9) reinforce this observation showing (8) to be ungrammatical where ''meghalo'' follows ''spiti'' with no determiner intervening. (8) (9) An alternative structure to the tree above (see "the silver pen" tree), is shown to the right in "the big house". Researchers have described this structure as a predicative configuration in which the DP in SpecDP ''to spiti'' is acting as the subject of the higher DP.


Swedish

In contrast with the optional DS in Greek,
Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
phrases that have an adjective show obligatory determiner spreading. Example (10) is marked as ungrammatical because it is monadic with respect to DS - there is only one determiner. By suffixing the noun with the determiner ''-en'' in example (11), the phrase becomes grammatical. (10) (11) One proposed analysis of the structure of DS in Swedish suggests that ''den''-support, is used to support definite DPs when D cannot be satisfied in any other way. It is used as a type of feature support for definiteness; when the definite noun carries stress, ''den'' is inserted for support to the DP. The determiner ''den'' and the determiner suffix ''-en'' are in complementary distribution. This proposed structure is shown in the syntactic tree to the right; where the ''den'' has already been inserted and the ''-en'' is experiencing downward movement to suffix the noun ''bil''.Santelmann, L. 1993:174


See also

*
Syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
*
Grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structure, structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clause (linguistics), clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraint ...
*
Determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...
*
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 is ...


Notes

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Bibliography

* Alexiadou, A., Haegeman, L., & Stavrou, M. 2007. Noun Phrase in the generative perspective. Mouton de Gruyter: Berlin. * Phoevos Panagiotidis, E., & Marinis, T. 2011. Determiner spreading as DP‐predication. Studia Linguistica, 65(3), 268-298. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9582.2011.01186.x * Rivero, M. L., Rallē, A., & MyiLibrary. 2001. Comparative syntax of Balkan languages. Oxford;New York;: Oxford University Press. * Santelmann, L. 1993. The distribution of double determiners in Swedish: den support in D*. Studia Linguistica, 47: 154–176. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 9582.1993.tb00844.x * Martinis, T. 2003. The acquisition of the DP in modern Greek. John Benjamins Publishing Company. Syntax