We propose a syntactic approach to apparent blocking effects in the realization of definiteness
marking in the Scandinavian languages. The claim is that the differences in definiteness marking can
be attributed to a requirement that a definiteness feature ([def], a property of N) must be located at the
left edge of the DP phase in order to be PIC-accessible for probes outside of the DP. As a result, [def]
can be spelled out on N if N is the only element within DP and [def] is therefore part of DP’s edge
domain (giving rise to suffixal marking). In contrast, the presence of an (overt) adjectival modifier (at the
left edge of DP) requires feature movement of [def] to D, which is then realized as a prenominal article
(with additional spell-out of the lower copy of [def] in Swedish). The paper also addresses the (slightly
different) behavior of definiteness marking in the context of relative clauses and certain issues pertaining to the interpretation of the different strategies.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:DRESDEN/oai:qucosa:de:qucosa:91159 |
| Date | 02 May 2024 |
| Creators | Heck, Fabian, Müller, Gereon, Trommer, Jochen |
| Publisher | De Gruyter Mouton |
| Source Sets | Hochschulschriftenserver (HSSS) der SLUB Dresden |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion, doc-type:article, info:eu-repo/semantics/article, doc-type:Text |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | 1867-8319, 2196-7148, 10.1524/stuf.2009.0020 |
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