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Definite article use with generic reference in German : an empirical study

Barton, Dagmar ; Kolb, Nadine and Kupisch, Tanja LU (2015) In Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft 34(2). p.147-173
Abstract
This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article inGerman with plural nominals that have a generic reading. In Standard German,genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich‘Tigers aredangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in articleuse in the expression of generic reference in German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), butvery little empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besidesfilling this research gap, we investigate which factors influence the use of arti-cles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguisticfactors (kind-level vs. individual-level... (More)
This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article inGerman with plural nominals that have a generic reading. In Standard German,genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich‘Tigers aredangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in articleuse in the expression of generic reference in German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), butvery little empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besidesfilling this research gap, we investigate which factors influence the use of arti-cles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguisticfactors (kind-level vs. individual-level predicates) as well as sociolinguistic fac-tors (age and regional background). Results show that with generic plural sub-jects definite articles are optional but bare subjects are preferred; definite sub-jects are accepted more often with kind-level predicates than with individual-level predicates (Less)
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author
; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
definite article, generics, DP, noun phrase, German, reference, kind reference, generic reference, grammaticalization, variation
in
Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft
volume
34
issue
2
pages
27 pages
publisher
Mouton de Gruyter
external identifiers
  • scopus:84946722982
ISSN
0721-9067
DOI
10.1515/zfs-2015-0009
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
7a68bed2-1ddd-4bf0-bee3-53eeea151975
date added to LUP
2024-12-22 17:05:30
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:50:49
@article{7a68bed2-1ddd-4bf0-bee3-53eeea151975,
  abstract     = {{This study is concerned with the distribution of the definite article inGerman with plural nominals that have a generic reading. In Standard German,genericity is typically expressed by bare nouns (Tiger sind gefährlich‘Tigers aredangerous’). Many researchers have claimed that there is variation in articleuse in the expression of generic reference in German (e.g., Brugger 1993; Longobardi 1994; Krifka et al. 1995; Chierchia 1998; Dayal 2004; Oosterhof 2008), butvery little empirical evidence has been provided to support this claim. Besidesfilling this research gap, we investigate which factors influence the use of arti-cles in plural subjects with generic reference. In doing so, we include linguisticfactors (kind-level vs. individual-level predicates) as well as sociolinguistic fac-tors (age and regional background). Results show that with generic plural sub-jects definite articles are optional but bare subjects are preferred; definite sub-jects are accepted more often with kind-level predicates than with individual-level predicates}},
  author       = {{Barton, Dagmar and Kolb, Nadine and Kupisch, Tanja}},
  issn         = {{0721-9067}},
  keywords     = {{definite article; generics; DP; noun phrase; German; reference; kind reference; generic reference; grammaticalization; variation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{147--173}},
  publisher    = {{Mouton de Gruyter}},
  series       = {{Zeitschrift für Sprachwissenschaft}},
  title        = {{Definite article use with generic reference in German : an empirical study}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/zfs-2015-0009}},
  doi          = {{10.1515/zfs-2015-0009}},
  volume       = {{34}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}