Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study
This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article in German with plural nominals that have a generic reading . In Standard German, genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich ‘Tigers are dangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variatio...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
| Published: |
De Gruyter
2015-11-01
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| Series: | Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2015-0009 |
| _version_ | 1818596228654432256 |
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| author | Barton Dagmar Kolb Nadine Kupisch Tanja |
| author_facet | Barton Dagmar Kolb Nadine Kupisch Tanja |
| author_sort | Barton Dagmar |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article in German with plural nominals that have a generic reading
. In Standard German, genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich ‘Tigers are
dangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in article use in the expression of generic reference in
German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), but very little
empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besides filling this research gap, we investigate which factors
influence the use of articles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguistic factors (kind-level vs.
individual-level predicates) as well as sociolinguistic factors (age and regional background). Results show that with generic
plural subjects definite articles are optional but bare subjects are preferred; definite subjects are accepted more often with
kind-level predicates than with individual-level predicates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T11:28:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-089d60a1f9c6478081544c4f3aa7190a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0721-9067 1613-3706 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T11:28:35Z |
| publishDate | 2015-11-01 |
| publisher | De Gruyter |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft |
| spelling | doaj.art-089d60a1f9c6478081544c4f3aa7190a2022-12-21T22:33:17ZdeuDe GruyterZeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft0721-90671613-37062015-11-0134214717310.1515/zfs-2015-0009Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical studyBarton Dagmar0Kolb Nadine1Kupisch Tanja2Institut für Germanistik, Universität HamburgEnglisches Seminar, Universität zu KölnFachbereich Sprachwissenschaft, Universität KonstanzThis study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article in German with plural nominals that have a generic reading . In Standard German, genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich ‘Tigers are dangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in article use in the expression of generic reference in German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), but very little empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besides filling this research gap, we investigate which factors influence the use of articles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguistic factors (kind-level vs. individual-level predicates) as well as sociolinguistic factors (age and regional background). Results show that with generic plural subjects definite articles are optional but bare subjects are preferred; definite subjects are accepted more often with kind-level predicates than with individual-level predicates.https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2015-0009generic referencegermandefinite articlegrammaticalizationvariation |
| spellingShingle | Barton Dagmar Kolb Nadine Kupisch Tanja Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft generic reference german definite article grammaticalization variation |
| title | Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study |
| title_full | Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study |
| title_fullStr | Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study |
| title_short | Definite article use with generic reference in German: an empirical study |
| title_sort | definite article use with generic reference in german an empirical study |
| topic | generic reference german definite article grammaticalization variation |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2015-0009 |
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