Crosslinguistic Studies on Noun Phrase Structure and Reference

Patricia Cabredo Hofherr is a researcher at the CNRS in Paris. She has published on referential impersonal pronouns, passives, adjectives and preposition-determiner contractions and co-edited Verbal plurality and distributivity (2012).

Anne Zribi-Hertz is Professor of French and comparative syntax at Université Paris 8. She has written or (co-)edited several books and written many articles on French, English, and various other languages including Attie, Korean, Wolof, and French-based creoles.

Contributors include: Zeljko Boskovic, Patricia Cabredo Hofherr, Edit Doron, Nomi Erteschik Shir, Brigitte Garcia, Elaine Grolla, Tania Ionin, Loïc Jean-Louis, Makoto Kaneko, Marika Lekakou, Silvina Montrul, Ana Müller, Asya Pereltsvaig, Marie-Anne Sallandre, Helade Santos, Serkan Sener, Rebekka Studler, Kriszta Szendröi, Anne Zribi-Hertz.

Crosslinguistic Studies on Noun Phrase Structure and Reference contains 11 studies on the grammar of noun phrases. Part One explores NP-structure and the impact of information structure, countability and number marking on interpretation, using data from Russian, Armenian, Hebrew, Brazilian Portuguese, Karitiana, Turkish, English, Catalan and Danish. Part Two examines language specific definiteness marking strategies in spoken and signed languages-differentiated definiteness marking in Germanic, double definiteness in Greek, adnominal demonstratives in Japanese, 'weak' definiteness in Martiniké and the special referring options made avilable by signing. Part Three examines the second-language acquisition of genericity in English, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. This volume will be of interest to researchers and students in syntax, formal semantics, and language acquisition.

Contributors include: Zeljko Boskovic, Patricia Cabredo Hofherr, Edit Doron, Nomi Erteschik Shir, Brigitte Garcia, Elaine Grolla, Tania Ionin, Loïc Jean-Louis, Makoto Kaneko, Marika Lekakou, Silvina Montrul, Ana Müller, Asya Pereltsvaig, Marie-Anne Sallandre, Helade Santos, Serkan Sener, Rebekka Studler, Kriszta Szendröi, Anne Zribi-Hertz.

Crosslinguistic Studies on Noun Phrase Structure and Reference presents 11 studies on the grammar of noun phrases. Part One explores structure and interpretation with respect to general linguistic categories (x-bar, number, countability, information structure). Parts Two and Three explore the workings of 'definiteness' marking.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Biographies

Introduction
Patricia Cabredo Hofherr and Anne Zribi-Hertz

part 1: Noun Phrase Syntax and Interpretation: In Search of Crosslinguistic Regularities

Information Structure and (In)definiteness
Nomi Erteschik-Shir

On Number and Numberlessness in Languages with and without Articles
Asya Pereltsvaig

The Cognitive Basis of the Mass-Count Distinction: Evidence from Bare Nouns
Edit Doron and Ana Müller

The Turkish NP
Zeljko Boskovic and Serkan Sener

part 2: Definiteness and Definiteness Markers across Languages

The Morphology, Syntax and Semantics of Definite Determiners in Swiss German
Rebekka Studler

Reduced Definite Articles with Restrictive Relative Clauses
Patricia Cabredo Hofherr

When Determiners Abound: Implications for the Encoding of Definiteness
Marika Lekakou and Kriszta Szendröi

The Semantics and Syntax of Japanese Adnominal Demonstratives
Makoto Kaneko

From Noun to Name: On Definiteness Marking in Modern Martinikè
Anne Zribi-Hertz and Loïc Jean-Louis

Reference Resolution in French Sign Language: The Effects of the Visuo-Gestual Modality
Brigitte Garcia and Marie-Anne Sallandre

part 3: Noun Phrase Interpretation and Second-Language Acquisition

When Articles Have Different Meanings: Acquiring the Expression of Genericity in English and Brazilian Portuguese
Tania Ionin, Elaine Grolla, Silvina Montrul and Hélade Santos

Index