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Title:
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Discourse and Definiteness: Synchronic and diachronic perspectives
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Author:
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Richard Epstein
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Email:
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click here to access email
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Degree Awarded:
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University of California, San Diego
, Linguistics Department
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Degree Date:
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1994
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Linguistic Subfield(s):
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Discourse Analysis
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Subject Language(s):
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English
Havasupai-Walapai-Yavapai
Old French
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Director(s):
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Suzanne Kemmer
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Abstract:
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Nearly all previous theories of definiteness treat articles as strictly referential items. Thus, indefinite articles are standardly analyzed as indicating that a referent exists, but is novel in the discourse, or not uniquely identifiable to the hearer; definite articles presuppose the existence of a referent, and also indicate that the speaker assumes that the referent is familiar, or uniquely identifiable to the hearer.
The main argument of this dissertation is that referential theories provide only partial accounts of the meaning and distribution of the articles. In addition to their referential function, the articles possess an expressive function -- they may be used to convey the speaker's subjective attitude towards a referent, including such notions as prominence, (de)emphasis, viewpoint, etc., even in situations in which the referential 'rules' do not hold. Focusing principally on the definite article, a wide range of evidence, drawn from naturally occurring discourse in English, Old French, and Jamul Diegue~no (Yuman), is adduced in support of this conclusion. The analysis that emerges combines both synchronic and diachronic perspectives into a coherent discourse-pragmatic framework for understanding the many subtle shades of meaning conveyed by the articles.
After an Introduction and a literature review, Chapter 3 describes the use of the articles in noun-name appositions in English. Chapter 4 gives a detailed typology of the various expressive uses of the definite article in English. It is shown that the analysis of 'the' as a marker of prominence correctly predicts the existence of constraints on the use of the articles that are unexpected under referential theories. These constraints suggest that the expressive meanings of the articles are basic, i.e. not derived pragmatically from the referential meanings. Expressive uses of the indefinite article in English are also examined, in the form of second mention indefinites. Chapter 5 shows that the definite articles in Old French and Jamul Diegue~no behave similarly to the definite article in English, exhibiting both a referential and an expressive function. The hypothesis that definite articles possess an expressive function leads to a plausible account of their diachronic semantic development from demonstratives.
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