Aspect en Referentietijd (met een samenvatting in het Nederlands) Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit Utrecht, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus, Prof. Dr. W.H.Gispen ingevolge het besluit van het College voor Promoties in het openbaar te verdedigen op donderdag 3 october 2002 des ochtends te 10.30 uur door Olga Borik geboren op 17 mei 1972 te Moskou

This paper is devoted to the study of definite kinds and other generic expressions, such as subkinds and definite plurals in argument position in Romance, namely Spanish. We support the claim that definite kinds denote the kind itself and are the expression of D-genericity in this type of languages. We argue that at the syntax-semantics interface definite kinds are numberless DPs composed by applying a iota operator (the meaning encoded by the definite article) to the meaning of nouns, thus constraining a generic interpretation for the sentence in which they appear. Subkinds and generic definite plurals, on the other hand, are the expression of V-driven genericity, since the generic meaning of these expressions is constrained by the type of predicate (kind and individual level predicates) they combine with. Subkinds are argued to differ from kinds in that they require Number (conceived as a realization operator). Generic definite plurals are argued to be syntactically and semantically different from both English bare plurals and definite kinds, and derived by applying an intensionalizing operator over the iota operator (Chierchia 1998).

This paper serves as an introduction to a special collection on the form, use and meaning of past passive participles used in perfect and passive constructions. We discuss various issues which later become prominent in the papers of the volume, which include morphology and participle formation, the use of past passive participles in perfect forms, as well as in verbal and adjectival passives, and the interpretation of such participles. Given that participles in general are characterised as a mixed category with verbal and adjectival properties, we devote some time to address the source of the verbal and adjectival characteristics as well as the source of stativity and eventivity in the interpretation of past passive participles.

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In this paper we defend three hypotheses. First, all languages that have Determiners (null or overt) have deinite kinds, a possibility which does not prevent languages from using other means to refer to kinds. Second, kinds are referred to by deinite DPs with no Number involved. Third, the subkind interpretation is built on Number. We will provide empirical support for these hypotheses based on a contrastive analysis of two languages that show opposite strategies for marking deiniteness: Spanish, a Romance language with articles, and Russian, a Slavic language with no article. We predict that deinite kinds cannot combine with predicates that encode plurality, cannot trigger a generic interpretation with s-level predicates, and have an interpretation that differs from the one associated to deinite plurals.