z-logo
Premium
Plural marking, indefiniteness, and the noun phrase
Author(s) -
Ghomeshi Jila
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
studia linguistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.187
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-9582
pISSN - 0039-3193
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9582.00099
Subject(s) - plural , linguistics , noun , noun phrase , numeral system , interpretation (philosophy) , proper noun , phrase , determiner phrase , definiteness , nominalization , agreement , history , mathematics , computer science , artificial intelligence , philosophy
This article proposes that plural marking on nouns in Persian is licensed only if those nouns are contained within D/QPs. This proposal accounts for why plural‐marked nouns are construed as definite unless an overt marker of indefiniteness appears, and why plural marking does not cooccur with numerals unless the noun phrase is definite. It is also shown that the indefinite marker in Persian is quantitative rather than cardinal and is thus associated with higher functional structure within the noun phrase than in English. In English, on the other hand, number marking, the indefinite article, and the grammatical distinction between count and mass nouns, are all realized at the level of NumP. Differences in the interpretation of bare noun phrases in English and Persian are therefore explained by the claim that argument noun phrases must minimally be NumPs in English while Persian lacks this projection altogether.

This content is not available in your region!

Continue researching here.

Having issues? You can contact us here