This paper argues for the reality of specificity as noteworthiness, a concept built upon Fodor and Sag’s (1982) view of referentiality. Support for this view of specificity comes from the behavior of indefinite this in spoken English, as well as from specificity markers in Samoan, Hebrew, and Sissala. It is shown that the conditions on the use of this-indefinites cannot be accounted for by previous analyses of specificity. The relationship between definiteness and specificity in article systems crosslinguistically is examined, and a distinction between presuppositions and felicity conditions is argued for. Additional evidence for the reality of specificity comes from a study of article choice in the English of adult second language learners (whose L1s, Russian and Korean, lack articles). It is shown that the learners’ errors are tied to specificity: they consist largely of overuse of the in specific indefinite contexts, and overuse of a in non-specific definite contexts. It is concluded that specificity is a universal semantic distinction, which receives morphological expression crosslinguistically and is available to second language learners.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
B. Abbott (2003) ‘Definiteness and Indefiniteness’ L. Horn W. Ward (Eds) Handbook of Pragmatics Blackwell Oxford 122–149
D. Abusch (1994) ArticleTitle‘The Scope of Indefinites’ Natural Language Semantics 2 83–135 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01250400
Abusch D. and M. Rooth (1997). ‘Epistemic NP Modifiers,’ in A. Lawson (ed.), Proceedings of SALT 7, CLC Publications, Ithaca, N.Y.
Becker, M. (1999). ‘The some Indefinites,’ in G. Storto (ed.), Syntax at Sunset 2(UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics 3), pp. 1–13.
R. Blass (1990) Relevance Relations in Discourse: A Study with Special Reference to Sissala Cambridge University Press Cambridge
Borer, H. (2005). ‘Things that Count: Null D,’ in H. Borer, Structuring Sense: An Exo- Skeletal Trilogy. Book I: In Name Only, Chapter 5, pp. 136–159. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
R Brown (1973) A First Language Harvard University Press Cambridge, Mass
Chierchia, G. (2001). ‘A Puzzle about Indefinites’, in C. Cecchetto, G. Chierchia, and M.T. Guasti (eds.), Sematic Interface: Reference, Anaphora, and Aspect, CSLI, Stanford.
S. Chung W. Ladusaw (2003) Restriction and Saturation MIT Press Cambridge Mass
M. Diesing (1992) Indefinites MIT Press Cambridge Mass
Donnellan, K. (1966). ‘Reference and Definite Descriptions’, The Philosophical Review 75, 281–304. Reprinted in D. Steinberg and L. Jakobovits (eds.), (1971) Semantics: An Interdisciplinary Reader in Philosophy, Linguistics, and Psychology, pp. 100–114. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
M. Enç (1991) ArticleTitle‘The Semantics of Specificity’ Linguistic Inquiry 22 1–25
G. Evans (1980) ArticleTitle‘Pronouns’ Linguistic Inquiry 11 337–362
D. Farkas (2002) ‘Varieties of Indefinites’ B. Jackson (Eds) Proceedings of SALT 12 CLC Publications Ithaca, N.Y. 59–83
von Fintel, K. (1998). ‘Evidence for Presuppositional Indefinites’, ms., MIT.
J. Fodor I. Sag (1982) ArticleTitle‘Referential and Quantificational Indefinites’ Linguistics and Philosophy 5 355–398 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00351459
T. Givón (1981) ArticleTitle‘On the Development of the Numeral ‘One’ as an Indefinite Marker’ Folia Linguistica Historica 2 IssueID1 35–53 Occurrence Handle10.1515/flih.1981.2.1.35
Givón, T. (2001). Syntax, vol. 1. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
M. Haspelmath (1997) Indefinite Pronouns Oxford University Press Oxford
J.A. Hawkins (1978) Definiteness and Indefiniteness Croom Helm London
Heim, I. (1982). The Semantics of Definite and Indefinite Noun Phrases, PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Heim, I. (1991). ‘Articles and Definiteness Definiteness’, pub1ished in German as ‘Artikel und Definitheit’, A. V. Stechow and D. Wunderlich (eds.), Semantics: An International Handbook of Contemporary Research, pp. 487–535. De Gruyter, Berlin.
J. Hintikka (1986) ArticleTitle‘The Semantics of A Certain’ Linguistic Inquiry 17 331–336
T. Huebner (1983) A Longitudinal Analysis of the Acquisition of English Karoma Ann Arbor
T. Huebner (1985) ArticleTitle‘System and Variability in Interlanguage Syntax’ Language Learning 35 141–163
Ionin, T. (2003). Article Semantics in Second Language Acquisition, PhD dissertation, MIT. Distributed by MITWPL, Cambridge, Mass.
T. Ionin H. Ko K. Wexler (2004) ArticleTitle‘Article Semantics in L2-Acquisition: The Role of specificity’ Language Acquisition 12 3–69
N. Kadmon (1990) ArticleTitle‘Uniqueness’ Linguistics and Philosophy 13 273–324 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00627710
D. Kaplan (1978) ‘Dthat’ P. Cole (Eds) Syntax and Semantics 9: Pragmatics Academic Press New York 221–243
Kelepir, M. (2001). Topics in Turkish Syntax: Clausal Structure and Scope, PhD dissertation, MIT. Distributed by MITWPL, Cambridge, Mass.
Ko, H., T. Ionin and K. Wexler (2005). ‘Adult L2-Learners Lack The Maximality Presupposition, Too’, to appear in Proceedings of GALANA 1.
A. Kratzer (1998) ‘Scope or Pseudo-Scope? Are There Wide-Scope Indefinites?’ S. Rothstein (Eds) Events in Grammar Kluwer Dordrecht 163–196
P. Ludlow S. Neale (1991) ArticleTitle‘Indefinite Descriptions: In Defense of Russell’ Linguistics and Philosophy 14 171–202 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF00627402
C. Lyons (1999) Definiteness Cambridge University Press Cambridge
Maclaran, R. (1982). The Semantics and Pragmatics of the English Demonstratives, PhD dissertation, Cornell University.
M.P. Maratsos (1976) The Use of Definite and Indefinite Reference in Young Children Cambridge University Press Cambridge
Master, P. (1987). A Cross-Linguistic Interlanguage Analysis of the Acquisition of the English Article System, PhD dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
L. Matthewson (1999) ArticleTitle‘On the Interpretation of Wide-Scope Indefinites’ Natural Language Semantics 7 79–134 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1008376601708
L. Matthewson J. Schaeffer (2000) ‘Grammar and Pragmatics in the Acquisition of Article Systems’ J. Gilkerson M. Becker N. Hyams (Eds) UCLA Working Papers in Linguistics: Language Development and Breakdown 1 University of California Los Angeles 1–39
Milsark G. (1974). Existential Sentences in English. PhD dissertation, MIT.
Mitchell, J. (1986). The Formal Semantics of Point of View, PhD dissertation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
U. Mosel E. Hovdhaugen (1992) Samoan Reference Grammar Scandinavian University Press Oslo
Partee, B. (1989). ‘Binding Implicit Variables in Quantified Context’. In: C. Wilshire, R. Graczyk, and B. Music (eds.), Papers from the 25th Regional Meeting of the Chicago Linguistic Society, Part One: The General Session. pp. 243–365. CLS, Chicago.
Perovic, A., H. Ko, T. Ionin and K. Wexler (2005). ‘L2-Acquisition of the English Indefinite Article by Speakers of Serbo-Croatian’, ms., MIT/Stonybrook University/USC.
Peterson, C.L. (1974). Communicative and Narrative Behavior of Preschool-Age Children, PhD dissertation, University of Minnesota.
Prince, E. (1981). ‘On the Interfacing of Indefinite-This NPs’, A.K. Joshi, B.L. Webber, and I.A. Sag (eds.), Elements Of Discourse Understanding. pp. 231–250. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Reinhart, T. (1995). ‘Interface Strategies’, in OTS Working Papers in Linguistics, OTS, Utrecht.
T. Reinhart (1997) ArticleTitle‘Quantifier Scope: How Labor Is Divided between QR and Choice Functions’ Linguistics and Philosophy 20 335–397 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1005349801431
C. Roberts (2003) ArticleTitle‘Uniqueness in Definite Noun Phrases’ Linguistics and Philosophy 26 287–350 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1024157132393
Ruys, E.G. (1992). The Scope of Indefinites, PhD dissertation, Utrecht University.
R. Schafer J. Villiers Particlede (2000) ‘Imagining Articles: What A and The Can Tell Us about the Emergence of DP’ S.C. Howell (Eds) et al. BUCLD 24 Proceedings Cascadilla Press Somerville Mass 609–620
Schlenker, P.: 2003a, ‘Indexicality, Logophoricity, and Plural Pronouns’, in J. Lecarme (ed.), Research in Afroasiatic Grammar II(Selected Papers from the Fifth Conference on Afroasiatic Languages, Paris, 2000), pp. 409–428. John Benjamins, Amsterdam.
P. Schlenker (2003b) ArticleTitle‘A Plea for Monsters’ Linguistics and Philosophy 26 29–120 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1022225203544
R. Stalnaker (1972) ‘Pragmatics’ G. Harman G. Davidson (Eds) Semantics of Natural Language Reidel Dordrecht 380–397
Schwarz, B. (2001). ‘Two Kinds of Long-Distance Indefinites’, in R. van Rooy and M. Stokhof (eds.), Proceedings of the Thirteenth Amsterdam Colloquium, Institute for Language, Logic and Information, University of Amsterdam. pp. 192–197.
R. Schwarzschild (2002) ArticleTitle‘Singleton Indefinites’ Journal of Semantics 19 289–314 Occurrence Handle10.1093/jos/19.3.289
S. Terkel (1974) Working Avon New York
M. Thomas (1989) ArticleTitle‘The Acquisition of English Articles by First- and Second-Language Learners’ Applied Psycholinguistics 10 335–355 Occurrence Handle10.1017/S0142716400008663
Wexler, K. (2003). ‘Maximal Trouble’, paper presented at the 16th annual CUNY Conference on Human Sentence Processing, MIT, Cambridge, MA. [In press as ‘Maximal Trouble: Cues Don’t Explain Learning’, in E. Gibson and N. Pearlmutter (eds.), The Processing and Acquisition of Reference, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.].
Y. Winter (1997) ArticleTitle‘Choice Functions and the Scopal Semantics of Indefinites’ Linguistics and Philosophy 20 399–467 Occurrence Handle10.1023/A:1005354323136
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
I am very grateful to Irene Heim for extensive discussion of article semantics. Thanks to Danny Fox, David Pesetsky, Hagit Borer, Ora Matushansky, and Philippe Schlenker for many helpful comments. I am grateful to an anonymous reviewer for Natural Language Semantics for insightful comments and suggestions. And big thanks to Heejeong Ko and Ken Wexler, my collaborators on the study of specificity in L2 acquisition. All remaining errors are my own.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ionin, T. This is Definitely Specific: Specificity and Definiteness in Article Systems. Nat Lang Semantics 14, 175–234 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-005-5255-9
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-005-5255-9