Anaphoricity and Kinds (in Languages) without Definite Articles
There are two general approaches to the structure and interpretation of NPs in languages without definite
articles. On the Universal DP approach (UDP), DP is present in all languages, regardless of whether or
not they have a definite article (Longobardi 1994, Cinque 1994); the claim is that even article-less
languages have a definite article (i.e., a D head) in syntax, but unlike in languages like English, the article
is unpronounced/covert. The DP/NP approach, on the other hand, assumes that DP is present only in
languages with articles; on this view, the lack of (overt) articles signals a simpler syntactic structure (i.e.,
NP) (Baker 2003, Bošković 2008, Despić 2015). Under the DP/NP approach a limited set of type shifting
operations is responsible for the interpretation of bare nouns (Chierchia 1998, Dayal 2004). I report here
new observations regarding bare nouns in languages without articles, which I argue challenge the UDP
approach, and directly support the type-shifting based analyses, in particular Dayal (2004). As is well
known, bare singular count nouns in languages without articles can be used anaphorically, to refer to a
previously introduced individual. Thus, the bare noun book in both Serbo-Croatian (SC) (1) and Turkish
(2) can refer to Crime and Punishment in the antecedent clause. English, on the other hand, must use the
definite article in the same situation.
(1) Juče
sam pročitao Zločin i Kaznu
– knjiga
mi
se zaista svidela.
Yesterday am read
Crime and Punishment book-nom me-dat refl really liked
‘Yesterday I read Crime and Punishment – I really liked the book.’
(2) Dün
Suç ve Ceza
okudum. Kitap harikaydı.
Yesteday Crime and Punishment read-past. Book terrific-past.
‘Yesterday I read Crime and Punishment. The book was terrific.’
SC
Turkish
Bare mass nouns, however, behave differently and haven’t been discussed before in this context: when
they are used to denote kinds they cannot be used anaphorically; e.g., meyve ‘fruit’ in (3) cannot pick out
üzüm ‘grapes’ in the antecedent clause, just like voće ‘fruit’ cannot refer to grožđe ‘grapes’ in (4). They
only have the implausible general meaning (fruit in general); to get the anaphoric reading a demonstrative
must be used. On the other hand, a mass noun with a kind reading can be used anaphorically in English, if
it is accompanied with the definite article: in (5), ‘the fruit’ is anteceded by ‘grapes’.
(3) Ömrüm boyunca üzüm yetiştirdim. #(Bu) meyve herşeyim
oldu.
Turkish
My life throughout grape produce.1.PR This fruit my everything became
‘I have been producing grape my whole life. (This) fruit is everything to me.’
* if meyve ‘fruit’ is anteceded by üzüm ‘grapes’; OK if bu meyve ‘that fruit’ is anteceded by üzüm
(4) ) Naše mesto već generacijama proizvodi belo grožđe. Sve
dugujemo #(tom) voću. SC
Our town already generations produces white grape Everything owe
(that) fruit-dat.
‘Our town has been producing white grape for generations. We owe everything to (that) fruit.’
*if voću ‘fruit’ is anteceded by grožđe ‘grapes’; OK if tom voću ‘that fruit’ is anteceded by grožđe
(5) We have been growing grapes for generations – and you know, we have made millions on the fruit.
This raises the following problem for the UDP approach: if the covert version of the definite article,
which is overt in English, is responsible for the definite reading of the bare noun in (1)-(2), why can’t it
produce the same effect in (3)-(4), given that ‘the fruit’ in (5) has the definite article? One could perhaps
argue that covert articles are more limited in meaning than the overt ones, but that would only re-describe
the facts and would not explain why the opposite of (1)-(4) doesn’t happen. I argue, on the other hand,
that this state of affairs falls out directly from Dayal’s (2004) analysis (see also Chierchia 1998, Carlson
1977), which I show also makes correct predictions about the relationship between anaphoricity and bare
plural and singular kinds. Facts from other article-less languages (e.g. Japanese, Chinese, Hindi etc.) will
be presented in support of the main claim as well.