Determinierung unter Defektivität des Determinierersystems

Human languages are very economical systems of knowledge, which usually contribute to the formation and interpretation of an utterance only what cannot be supplied by other conceptual systems. Thus, conceptual underspecification and context-dependence are essential properties, which vary from one particular language to the next in dependence on the structural make-up a given language belongs to. The book series "Language, Context and Cognition" explores the essential properties of natural languages in focusing on their lexical entries, on the interaction of their grammatical subsystems as well as on the text production methods, from both synchronic and diachronic viewpoints. Research on the conceptual underspecification of language requires close cooperation of linguists with researchers in cognitive and neuroscience, with phoneticians, logicians and with the experts of pragmatic and experimental disciplines, but it also needs interdisciplinary cooperation with students of non-linguistic conceptual systems. Editorial board (vol. 10 onwards) Dr. habil. Kai Alter (Newcastle University Medical School) Prof. Dr. Ulrike Demske (Universität des Saarlandes) Prof. Dr. Ewald Lang (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Prof. Dr. Rosemarie Lühr (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena) Prof. Dr. Thomas Pechmann (Universität Leipzig) Prof. Dr. Richard Wiese (Universität Marburg)

The monograph explains how the lack of a 'nominal article' category in some Slavic languages influences nominal reference and textual coherence. The book demonstrates that the missing category cannot be represented by the absence of the functional category D0, but that a phonologically empty category with the meaning of the semantic default determiner must be assumed. Otherwise, syntactically and semantically well-formed sentences could not be generated. The semantic default determiner is only specified contextually when the DP with a fixed function in a sentence combines the aspect of the verb and a defined position within the information structure of the sentence. These factors establish the reference of the DPs as well as their discourse-pragmatic potential.The book follows the two-level semantic system of the modular grammars of the Slavic languages. The syntactic structures are mapped onto compositionally constructed semantic structures that are interpreted conceptually. This means that grammatical knowledge is strictly separated from extra-linguistic knowledge, which helps to interpret the utterance meanings in coherent texts.

Autorentext

Andreas Späth, Universität Leipzig.