On noun phrase architecture, referentiality, and article systems

Abstract

Some languages have articles, others have not. This article argues that semantically equivalent noun phrases have the same underlying phrase structure across languages, no matter whether articles exist or not. The core idea is that functional categories are abstract syntactic heads correlated with specific referential categories. Presence vs. absence of a functional category determines whether or not its particular referential properties are found on the noun phrase. The functional heads are found universally and are a part of Universal Grammar, but since they are abstract, they must be`identified': Identification is accomplished when an element with the relevant morphological features is merged within the functional head projection. When the numeration contains several candidates for identification, the one with the highest number of relevant morphological features (with particular qualifications) is chosen. Crucially, articles are on principle available as potential identifiers, and languages that have articles must therefore use them if they are more appropriate identifiers than any of the elements in a given numeration. Having no semantic properties of their own, articles become specialized identifiers for particular functional categories. This theory, Identification Theory, captures important traits of the article systems of various languages, notably those of English, Finnish, French, Icelandic, Mainland Scandinavian, and Northern and Northeastern Swedish`O È sterbotten' dialects.* This paper is a revised and substantially reduced version of part I of Vangsnes (1999).

Wh-questions, V2, and the Left Periphery of Three Norwegian Dialect types

“…Importantly however, we follow Vangsnes (1999Vangsnes ( , 2001 in assuming that when a functional head is present, it is subject to a general licensing condition, termed 'identification', which requires that some overt material be merged either in its specifier or head position at some step in the derivation. A similar idea is presented in Holmberg (1994).…”

“…It may however not be immediately clear why sominsertion should follow from (52ii). A crucial premise in this respect is that we consider som a 'functional element' in the sense of Vangsnes (1999Vangsnes ( , 2001, i.e., on a par with expletives and articles. 15 Unlike 'substantive elements', functional elements are accessible throughout the derivation and need not be a part of the initial numeration.…”

The polyfunctionality of which in Övdalian

“…In order to account for such situations, competition among candidate lexicalizers is invoked. In recent papers this has been referred to as 'minimize junk' or 'best t' (see Starke 2009), and the general idea is similar to the earlier notion Prefer red Identi er advocated in Vangsnes (1999Vangsnes ( , 2001). …”

“…As discussed in Vangsnes (2008aVangsnes ( , 2008bVangsnes ( , 2008cVangsnes ( , 2013 in Norwegian dialects and colloquial Icelandic the item used in and questions can also be used adnominally. Furthermore, in some dialects the adnominal use is compatible with just interpretations (e.g.…”

“…For more information about the internal structure and external distribution of Swedish hur(u)dan, see Vangsnes (2008aVangsnes ( , 2008b). …”