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vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Use_in_different_languages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2</span> <span>Use in different languages</span> </div> </a> <button aria-controls="toc-Use_in_different_languages-sublist" class="cdx-button cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--icon-only vector-toc-toggle"> <span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-expand"></span> <span>Toggle Use in different languages subsection</span> </button> <ul id="toc-Use_in_different_languages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> <li id="toc-English" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#English"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.1</span> <span>English</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-English-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Other_languages" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-2"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Other_languages"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">2.2</span> <span>Other languages</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-Other_languages-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-See_also" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#See_also"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">3</span> <span>See also</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-See_also-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-References" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#References"> <div class="vector-toc-text"> <span class="vector-toc-numb">4</span> <span>References</span> </div> </a> <ul id="toc-References-sublist" class="vector-toc-list"> </ul> </li> <li id="toc-Notes" class="vector-toc-list-item vector-toc-level-1 vector-toc-list-item-expanded"> <a class="vector-toc-link" href="#Notes"> <div 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<h1 id="firstHeading" class="firstHeading mw-first-heading"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Definiteness</span></h1> <div id="p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown mw-portlet mw-portlet-lang" > <input type="checkbox" id="p-lang-btn-checkbox" role="button" aria-haspopup="true" data-event-name="ui.dropdown-p-lang-btn" class="vector-dropdown-checkbox mw-interlanguage-selector" aria-label="Go to an article in another language. Available in 17 languages" > <label id="p-lang-btn-label" for="p-lang-btn-checkbox" class="vector-dropdown-label cdx-button cdx-button--fake-button cdx-button--fake-button--enabled cdx-button--weight-quiet cdx-button--action-progressive mw-portlet-lang-heading-17" aria-hidden="true" ><span class="vector-icon mw-ui-icon-language-progressive mw-ui-icon-wikimedia-language-progressive"></span> <span class="vector-dropdown-label-text">17 languages</span> </label> <div class="vector-dropdown-content"> <div class="vector-menu-content"> <ul class="vector-menu-content-list"> <li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-af mw-list-item"><a href="https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bepaaldheid" title="Bepaaldheid – Afrikaans" lang="af" hreflang="af" data-title="Bepaaldheid" data-language-autonym="Afrikaans" data-language-local-name="Afrikaans" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Afrikaans</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-als mw-list-item"><a href="https://als.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitheit_(Linguistik)" title="Definitheit (Linguistik) – Alemannic" lang="gsw" hreflang="gsw" data-title="Definitheit (Linguistik)" data-language-autonym="Alemannisch" data-language-local-name="Alemannic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Alemannisch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ar mw-list-item"><a href="https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%A9_(%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%88)" title="معرفة (نحو) – Arabic" lang="ar" hreflang="ar" data-title="معرفة (نحو)" data-language-autonym="العربية" data-language-local-name="Arabic" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>العربية</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-de mw-list-item"><a href="https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitheit_(Linguistik)" title="Definitheit (Linguistik) – German" lang="de" hreflang="de" data-title="Definitheit (Linguistik)" data-language-autonym="Deutsch" data-language-local-name="German" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Deutsch</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-es mw-list-item"><a href="https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitud" title="Definitud – Spanish" lang="es" hreflang="es" data-title="Definitud" data-language-autonym="Español" data-language-local-name="Spanish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Español</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-eo mw-list-item"><a href="https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difiniteco" title="Difiniteco – Esperanto" lang="eo" hreflang="eo" data-title="Difiniteco" data-language-autonym="Esperanto" data-language-local-name="Esperanto" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Esperanto</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ko mw-list-item"><a href="https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%ED%95%9C%EC%A0%95%EC%84%B1" title="한정성 – Korean" lang="ko" hreflang="ko" data-title="한정성" data-language-autonym="한국어" data-language-local-name="Korean" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>한국어</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-he mw-list-item"><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%99%D7%99%D7%93%D7%95%D7%A2" title="יידוע – Hebrew" lang="he" hreflang="he" data-title="יידוע" data-language-autonym="עברית" data-language-local-name="Hebrew" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>עברית</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-ja mw-list-item"><a href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%9A%E6%80%A7" title="定性 – Japanese" lang="ja" hreflang="ja" data-title="定性" data-language-autonym="日本語" data-language-local-name="Japanese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>日本語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-no mw-list-item"><a href="https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bestemthet" title="Bestemthet – Norwegian Bokmål" lang="nb" hreflang="nb" data-title="Bestemthet" data-language-autonym="Norsk bokmål" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Bokmål" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk bokmål</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-nn mw-list-item"><a href="https://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binding" title="Binding – Norwegian Nynorsk" lang="nn" hreflang="nn" data-title="Binding" data-language-autonym="Norsk nynorsk" data-language-local-name="Norwegian Nynorsk" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Norsk nynorsk</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-pl mw-list-item"><a href="https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okre%C5%9Blono%C5%9B%C4%87_(j%C4%99zykoznawstwo)" title="Określoność (językoznawstwo) – Polish" lang="pl" hreflang="pl" data-title="Określoność (językoznawstwo)" data-language-autonym="Polski" data-language-local-name="Polish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Polski</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-sv mw-list-item"><a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best%C3%A4mdhet" title="Bestämdhet – Swedish" lang="sv" hreflang="sv" data-title="Bestämdhet" data-language-autonym="Svenska" data-language-local-name="Swedish" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Svenska</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-tg mw-list-item"><a href="https://tg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D1%81%D0%BC%D2%B3%D0%BE%D0%B8_%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%8F%D0%BD_%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC%D1%83%D0%B0%D0%B9%D1%8F%D0%BD" title="Исмҳои муайян ва номуайян – Tajik" lang="tg" hreflang="tg" data-title="Исмҳои муайян ва номуайян" data-language-autonym="Тоҷикӣ" data-language-local-name="Tajik" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Тоҷикӣ</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-vi mw-list-item"><a href="https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%ADnh_x%C3%A1c_%C4%91%E1%BB%8Bnh_(ng%C3%B4n_ng%E1%BB%AF_h%E1%BB%8Dc)" title="Tính xác định (ngôn ngữ học) – Vietnamese" lang="vi" hreflang="vi" data-title="Tính xác định (ngôn ngữ học)" data-language-autonym="Tiếng Việt" data-language-local-name="Vietnamese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>Tiếng Việt</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh-yue mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh-yue.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%9A%E6%8C%87" title="定指 – Cantonese" lang="yue" hreflang="yue" data-title="定指" data-language-autonym="粵語" data-language-local-name="Cantonese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>粵語</span></a></li><li class="interlanguage-link interwiki-zh mw-list-item"><a href="https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%AE%9A%E6%8C%87%E6%80%A7" title="定指性 – Chinese" lang="zh" hreflang="zh" data-title="定指性" data-language-autonym="中文" data-language-local-name="Chinese" class="interlanguage-link-target"><span>中文</span></a></li> </ul> <div class="after-portlet after-portlet-lang"><span class="wb-langlinks-edit wb-langlinks-link"><a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Special:EntityPage/Q1182686#sitelinks-wikipedia" title="Edit interlanguage links" class="wbc-editpage">Edit links</a></span></div> </div> </div> </div> </header> <div class="vector-page-toolbar"> <div class="vector-page-toolbar-container"> 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a{color:var(--color-progressive)!important}}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:none!important}}</style><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks" style="width:18em"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="background:#ccccff;font-size:110%"><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_category" title="Grammatical category">Grammatical features</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Related to nouns</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Animacy" title="Animacy">Animacy</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_case" title="Grammatical case">Case</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Dative_construction" title="Dative construction">Dative construction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dative_shift" title="Dative shift">Dative shift</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quirky_subject" title="Quirky subject">Quirky subject</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Nominative_case" title="Nominative case">Nominative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comitative_case" title="Comitative case">Comitative</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Instrumental_case" title="Instrumental case">Instrumental</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Classifier_(linguistics)" title="Classifier (linguistics)">Classifier</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Measure_word" title="Measure word">Measure word</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Construct_state" title="Construct state">Construct state</a></li> <li>Countability <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Count_noun" title="Count noun">Count noun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mass_noun" title="Mass noun">Mass noun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Collective_noun" title="Collective noun">Collective noun</a></li></ul></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Definiteness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">Gender</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Genitive_construction" title="Genitive construction">Genitive construction</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Possession_(linguistics)" title="Possession (linguistics)">Possession</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Suffixaufnahme" title="Suffixaufnahme">Suffixaufnahme (case stacking)</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Noun_class" title="Noun class">Noun class</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_number" title="Grammatical number">Number</a> <ul><li><div class="hlist"><ul><li>Singular</li><li><a href="/wiki/Dual_(grammatical_number)" title="Dual (grammatical number)">Dual</a></li><li><a href="/wiki/Plural" title="Plural">Plural</a></li></ul></div></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Singulative_number" title="Singulative number">Singulative-Collective-Plurative</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">Specificity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Universal_grinder" title="Universal grinder">Universal grinder</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Related to verbs</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Associated_motion" title="Associated motion">Associated motion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Clusivity" title="Clusivity">Clusivity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_conjugation" title="Grammatical conjugation">Conjugation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evidentiality" title="Evidentiality">Evidentiality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modality_(semantics)" title="Modality (semantics)">Modality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_person" title="Grammatical person">Person</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Telicity" title="Telicity">Telicity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tense%E2%80%93aspect%E2%80%93mood" title="Tense–aspect–mood">Tense–aspect–mood</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_aspect" title="Grammatical aspect">Grammatical aspect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lexical_aspect" title="Lexical aspect">Lexical aspect (Aktionsart)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_mood" title="Grammatical mood">Mood</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Grammatical_tense" title="Grammatical tense">Tense</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Voice_(grammar)" title="Voice (grammar)">Voice</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">General features</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Affect_(linguistics)" title="Affect (linguistics)">Affect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Boundedness_(linguistics)" title="Boundedness (linguistics)">Boundedness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Comparison_(grammar)" title="Comparison (grammar)">Comparison (degree)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Egophoricity" title="Egophoricity">Egophoricity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pluractionality" title="Pluractionality">Pluractionality</a> (verbal number)</li> <li><a href="/wiki/Honorifics_(linguistics)" title="Honorifics (linguistics)">Honorifics (politeness)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Affirmation_and_negation" title="Affirmation and negation">Polarity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reciprocal_construction" title="Reciprocal construction">Reciprocity</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Reflexive_pronoun" title="Reflexive pronoun">Reflexive pronoun</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reflexive_verb" title="Reflexive verb">Reflexive verb</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Syntax relationships</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Argument_(linguistics)" title="Argument (linguistics)">Argument</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Transitivity_(grammar)" title="Transitivity (grammar)">Transitivity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Valency_(linguistics)" title="Valency (linguistics)">Valency</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Branching_(linguistics)" title="Branching (linguistics)">Branching</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Serial_verb_construction" title="Serial verb construction">Serial verb construction</a></li> <li>Traditional grammar <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Predicate_(grammar)" title="Predicate (grammar)">Predicate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subject_(grammar)" title="Subject (grammar)">Subject</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Object_(grammar)" title="Object (grammar)">Object</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Adjunct_(grammar)" title="Adjunct (grammar)">Adjunct</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Predicative_expression" title="Predicative expression">Predicative</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Semantics</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Contrast_(linguistics)" title="Contrast (linguistics)">Contrast</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Thematic_relation" title="Thematic relation">Thematic relation</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agent_(grammar)" title="Agent (grammar)">Agent</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Patient_(grammar)" title="Patient (grammar)">Patient</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Topic_and_comment" title="Topic and comment">Topic and Comment</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">Focus</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Volition_(linguistics)" title="Volition (linguistics)">Volition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Veridicality" title="Veridicality">Veridicality</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content vlist" style="padding:.3em; text-align:left;"> <div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="color: var(--color-base)">Phenomena</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Agreement_(linguistics)" title="Agreement (linguistics)">Agreement</a> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Polypersonal_agreement" title="Polypersonal agreement">Polypersonal agreement</a></li></ul></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Declension" title="Declension">Declension</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Empty_category" title="Empty category">Empty category</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Incorporation_(linguistics)" title="Incorporation (linguistics)">Incorporation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inflection" title="Inflection">Inflection</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Markedness" title="Markedness">Markedness</a></li></ul></div></div></td> </tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239400231">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}@media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .navbar li a abbr{color:var(--color-base)!important}}@media print{.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:none!important}}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Grammatical_categories" title="Template:Grammatical categories"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Grammatical_categories" title="Template talk:Grammatical categories"><abbr title="Discuss this template">t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a href="/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Grammatical_categories" title="Special:EditPage/Template:Grammatical categories"><abbr title="Edit this template">e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table> <p>In <a href="/wiki/Linguistics" title="Linguistics">linguistics</a>, <b>definiteness</b> is a <a href="/wiki/Semantic_feature" title="Semantic feature">semantic feature</a> of <a href="/wiki/Noun_phrase" title="Noun phrase">noun phrases</a> that distinguishes between <a href="/wiki/Referent" title="Referent">referents</a> or <a href="/wiki/Sense_and_reference" title="Sense and reference">senses</a> that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those that are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical definite noun phrase picks out a unique, familiar, <a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">specific</a> referent such as <i>the sun</i> or <i>Australia</i>, as opposed to indefinite examples like <i>an idea</i> or <i>some fish</i>. </p><p>There is considerable variation in the expression of definiteness across languages, and some languages such as <a href="/wiki/Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a> do not generally mark it, so the same expression can be definite in some contexts and indefinite in others. In other languages, such as <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a>, it is usually marked by the selection of <a href="/wiki/Determiner" title="Determiner">determiner</a> (e.g., <i>the</i> vs. <i>a</i>). Still other languages, such as <a href="/wiki/Danish_language" title="Danish language">Danish</a>, mark definiteness <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">morphologically</a> by changing the noun itself (e.g. Danish <i>en</i> <i>mand</i> (a man), <i>manden</i> (the man)). </p> <meta property="mw:PageProp/toc" /> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definiteness_as_a_grammatical_category">Definiteness as a grammatical category</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Definiteness as a grammatical category"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>There are times when a grammatically marked definite NP is not in fact identifiable. For example, <i>the polar bear's habitat is the arctic</i> does not refer to a unique, familiar, <a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">specific</a> bear, in an example of a <a href="/wiki/Form-meaning_mismatch" title="Form-meaning mismatch">form-meaning mismatch</a>. "The theoretical distinction between grammatical definiteness and cognitive identifiability has the advantage of enabling us to distinguish between a discrete (grammatical) and a non-discrete (cognitive) category."<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup>[p. 84]</sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>a<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Use_in_different_languages">Use in different languages</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Use in different languages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="English">English</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: English"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <p>In <a href="/wiki/English_language" title="English language">English</a>, definiteness is usually marked by the selection of <a href="/wiki/Determiner" title="Determiner">determiner</a>. Certain determiners, such as <i>a</i>, <i>an</i>, <i>many</i>, and <i>some</i>, along with numbers (e.g., <i><u>four</u> items</i>), typically mark a noun phrase as indefinite. Others, including <i>the</i>, <i>that</i>, and <a href="/wiki/Genitive_case" title="Genitive case">genitive</a> noun phrases (e.g., <i><u>my</u> brother</i>) typically mark the noun phrase as definite.<sup id="cite_ref-CGEL_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-CGEL-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p><p>A number of tests have been proposed to distinguish definite from indefinite noun phrases. "Each has a foundation in intuition, as well as some degree of grammatical effect. However, it is not clear that any of them corresponds cleanly to formal categories."<sup id="cite_ref-Abbott_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-Abbott-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> </p> <ol><li>If a noun phrase can be put into an <a href="/wiki/Existential_clause" title="Existential clause">existential clause</a> such as <i>there is</i> noun phrase <i>at the door</i> (e.g., <i>there are two wolves at the door</i>), it is likely indefinite.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>"The concept of identifiability expressed by the definite article is best understood in terms of pre-empting a question with <i>which</i>?"<sup id="cite_ref-CGEL_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-CGEL-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ol> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="Other_languages">Other languages</h3><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Other languages"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Basque_language" title="Basque language">Basque</a>, definiteness is marked by a phrasal clitic article.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 76">: 76 </span></sup></li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd><table> <tbody><tr> <td><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1209690778">.mw-parser-output .interlinear .bold{font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .interlinear .smallcaps{text-transform:uppercase;font-size:smaller}</style><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="eu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">emakume</p><p style="margin: 0px;">woman</p></div><p style="display: none;">emakume</p><p style="display: none;">woman</p><p style="clear: left;">"woman"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="eu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">emakume-a</p><p style="margin: 0px;">woman-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">emakume-a</p><p style="display: none;">woman-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the woman"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="eu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">emakume</p><p style="margin: 0px;">woman</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="eu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">ederr-a</p><p style="margin: 0px;">beautiful-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">emakume ederr-a</p><p style="display: none;">woman beautiful-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the beautiful woman"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Danish_language" title="Danish language">Danish</a>, definiteness is marked <a href="/wiki/Morphology_(linguistics)" title="Morphology (linguistics)">morphologically</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li> <li>In <a href="/wiki/Romanian_language" title="Romanian language">Romanian</a>:</li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd><table> <tbody><tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">om</p><p style="margin: 0px;">man</p></div><p style="display: none;">om</p><p style="display: none;">man</p><p style="clear: left;">"man"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">om-ul</p><p style="margin: 0px;">man-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">om-ul</p><p style="display: none;">man-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the man"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">om-ul</p><p style="margin: 0px;">man-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bun</p><p style="margin: 0px;">good</p></div><p style="display: none;">om-ul bun</p><p style="display: none;">man-ART good</p><p style="clear: left;">"the good man"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>    </td> <td style="vertical-align: top;">or </td> <td>    </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bun-ul</p><p style="margin: 0px;">good-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">om</p><p style="margin: 0px;">man</p></div><p style="display: none;">bun-ul om</p><p style="display: none;">good-ART man</p><p style="clear: left;">"the good man"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Albanian_language" title="Albanian language">Albanian</a> definiteness is marked by a noun affix.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 121">: 121 </span></sup></li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd><table> <tbody><tr> <td style="vertical-align: top;"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">djalë</p></div><p style="display: none;">djalë</p><p style="clear: left;">"boy"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">djal-i</p><p style="margin: 0px;">djal-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">djal-i</p><p style="display: none;">djal-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the boy"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">djal-i</p><p style="margin: 0px;">djal-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">i</p><p style="margin: 0px;">i</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">madh</p><p style="margin: 0px;">madh</p></div><p style="display: none;">djal-i i madh</p><p style="display: none;">djal-ART i madh</p><p style="clear: left;">"the elder son"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td></tr> <tr> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">vajzë</p></div><p style="display: none;">vajzë</p><p style="clear: left;">"girl"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">vajz-a</p><p style="margin: 0px;">vajz-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">vajz-a</p><p style="display: none;">vajz-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the girl"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">vajz-a</p><p style="margin: 0px;">vajz-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="article" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ART</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">e</p><p style="margin: 0px;">e</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bukur</p><p style="margin: 0px;">bukur</p></div><p style="display: none;">vajz-a e bukur</p><p style="display: none;">vajz-ART e bukur</p><p style="clear: left;">"the pretty girl"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li>In <a href="/wiki/Arabic_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Arabic language">Arabic</a>, the definite (<span title="Arabic-language text"><span lang="ar" dir="rtl">الـمَعْرِفَة</span></span>) can be determined from the indefinite (<span title="Arabic-language text"><span lang="ar" dir="rtl">النَّكِرَة</span></span>) with presence of the definitive article <i>al-</i> (<span title="Arabic-language text"><span lang="ar" dir="rtl">الـ</span></span>) or a possessive pronoun suffix forming an <a href="/wiki/I%E1%B8%8D%C4%81fah" title="Iḍāfah"><i>iḍāfa</i></a> construction. Adjectives describing definite nouns are also marked with the definitive article <i>al-</i> (<span title="Arabic-language text"><span lang="ar" dir="rtl">الـ</span></span>).<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 91">: 91 </span></sup> <span title="Arabic-language text"><span lang="ar" dir="rtl">الكتاب الكبير</span></span> (<i><span title="Arabic-language text"><i lang="ar-Latn">al-kitāb al-kabīr</i></span></i>) with two instances of <i><span title="Arabic-language text"><i lang="ar-Latn">al-</i></span></i> (DEF-book-DEF-big, literally, "the book the big")</li> <li>in <a href="/wiki/Hungarian_language" title="Hungarian language">Hungarian</a>, verbs show agreement with the definiteness of their object:<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 86">: 86 </span></sup></li></ul> <dl><dd><dl><dd><table> <tbody><tr> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">olvasok</p><p style="margin: 0px;">read-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="first person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">1SG</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRES</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="indefinite" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">INDEF</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">egy</p><p style="margin: 0px;">a</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">könyvet</p><p style="margin: 0px;">book-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">olvasok egy könyvet</p><p style="display: none;">read-1SG.PRES.INDEF a book-ACC.SG</p><p style="clear: left;">"I read a book"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td> <td>     </td> <td style="vertical-align: top;">versus </td> <td>     </td> <td><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1209690778"><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">olvasom</p><p style="margin: 0px;">read-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="first person, singular" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">1SG</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="present tense" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">PRES</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="definite" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">DEF</abbr></p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">a</p><p style="margin: 0px;">the</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="hu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">könyvet</p><p style="margin: 0px;">book-<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="accusative case" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">ACC</abbr>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="singular number" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">SG</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">olvasom a könyvet</p><p style="display: none;">read-1SG.PRES.DEF the book-ACC.SG</p><p style="clear: left;">"I read the book"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div> </div> </td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl></dd></dl> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a>, <span title="Japanese-language text"><span lang="ja" style="font-style: normal;">私は<b>本</b>を持っている</span></span> (<span title="Japanese-language text"><i lang="ja-Latn">watashi wa <b>hon</b> o motteiru</i></span> "I have <b>a/the book</b>"), is ambiguous between definite and indefinite readings.<sup id="cite_ref-:0_8-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:0-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul> <p><a href="/wiki/Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance</a>, <a href="/wiki/Celtic_languages" title="Celtic languages">Celtic</a>, <a href="/wiki/Semitic_languages" title="Semitic languages">Semitic</a>, and <a href="/wiki/International_auxiliary_language" title="International auxiliary language">auxiliary</a> languages generally have a definite article, often preposed but in some cases postposed. Many other languages do not. Some examples are <a href="/wiki/Chinese_language" title="Chinese language">Chinese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a>, <a href="/wiki/Finnish_language" title="Finnish language">Finnish</a>, and modern <a href="/wiki/Slavic_languages" title="Slavic languages">Slavic languages</a> except <a href="/wiki/Bulgarian_language" title="Bulgarian language">Bulgarian</a> and <a href="/wiki/Macedonian_language" title="Macedonian language">Macedonian</a>. When necessary, languages of this kind may indicate definiteness by other means such as <a href="/wiki/Demonstrative" title="Demonstrative">demonstratives</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources"><span title="This citation requires a reference to the specific page or range of pages in which the material appears. (November 2021)">page needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p><p>It is common for definiteness to interact with the marking of <a href="/wiki/Declension" title="Declension">case</a> in certain syntactic contexts. In many languages, a <a href="/wiki/Object_(grammar)" title="Object (grammar)">direct object</a> receives distinctive marking only if it is definite. For example, in <a href="/wiki/Turkish_language" title="Turkish language">Turkish</a>, the direct object in the sentence <span title="Turkish-language text"><i lang="tr">adamı gördüm</i></span> (meaning "I saw the man") is marked with the suffix <span title="Turkish-language text"><i lang="tr">-ı</i></span> (indicating definiteness).<sup id="cite_ref-:1_6-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-:1-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup class="reference nowrap"><span title="Page: 204">: 204 </span></sup> The absence of the suffix on a direct object in Turkish means that it is indefinite and, in the absence of the indefinite article <span title="Turkish-language text"><i lang="tr">bir</i></span>, no longer explicitly singular: <span title="Turkish-language text"><i lang="tr">adam gördüm</i></span> ("I saw a man/I saw men"). </p><p>In <a href="/wiki/Serbo-Croatian" title="Serbo-Croatian">Serbo-Croatian</a>, in the <a href="/wiki/Baltic_languages" title="Baltic languages">Baltic</a> languages <a href="/wiki/Latvian_language" title="Latvian language">Latvian</a> and <a href="/wiki/Lithuanian_language" title="Lithuanian language">Lithuanian</a>, and, to a lesser extent in <a href="/wiki/Slovene_language" title="Slovene language">Slovene</a>, definiteness can be expressed morphologically on prenominal adjectives.<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The short form of the adjective is interpreted as indefinite, while the long form is definite or <a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">specific</a>: </p> <ul><li>short (indefinite): Serbo-Croatian <span title="Serbo-Croatian-language text"><i lang="sh"><b>nov</b> grad</i></span> "a new city"; Lithuanian <span title="Lithuanian-language text"><i lang="lt"><b>balta</b> knyga</i></span> "a white book"; Latvian <span title="Latvian-language text"><i lang="lv"><b>balta</b> māja</i></span> "a white house"</li> <li>long (definite): <span title="Serbo-Croatian-language text"><i lang="sh"><b>novi</b> grad</i></span> "the new city, a certain new city"; <span title="Lithuanian-language text"><i lang="lt"><b>baltoji</b> knyga</i></span> "the white book, a certain white book"; <span title="Latvian-language text"><i lang="lv"><b>baltā</b> māja, with a long vowel</i></span> "the white house"</li></ul> <p>In some languages, the definiteness of the object affects the <a href="/wiki/Transitivity_(grammatical_category)" class="mw-redirect" title="Transitivity (grammatical category)">transitivity</a> of the <a href="/wiki/Verb" title="Verb">verb</a>. In the absence of peculiar specificity marking, it also tends to affect the <a href="/wiki/Telicity" title="Telicity">telicity</a> of mono-occasional <a href="/wiki/Predicate_(grammar)" title="Predicate (grammar)">predications</a>. </p><p>In some Scandinavian languages, such as <a href="/wiki/Swedish_language" title="Swedish language">Swedish</a>, definite nouns inflect with a dedicated set of suffixes. This is known in Swedish as the grammatical category of <a href="https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_(grammatik)" class="extiw" title="sv:Species (grammatik)">species</a>.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="white-space:nowrap;">[<i><a href="/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (July 2021)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup> </p> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="See_also">See also</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: See also"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Construct_state" title="Construct state">Construct state</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Article_(grammar)" title="Article (grammar)">Article (grammar)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Topic%E2%80%93comment" class="mw-redirect" title="Topic–comment">Topic–comment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">Specificity</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: References"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1239543626">.mw-parser-output .reflist{margin-bottom:0.5em;list-style-type:decimal}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .reflist{font-size:90%}}.mw-parser-output .reflist .references{font-size:100%;margin-bottom:0;list-style-type:inherit}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-2{column-width:30em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns-3{column-width:25em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns{margin-top:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns ol{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .reflist-columns li{page-break-inside:avoid;break-inside:avoid-column}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-alpha{list-style-type:upper-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-upper-roman{list-style-type:upper-roman}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-alpha{list-style-type:lower-alpha}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-greek{list-style-type:lower-greek}.mw-parser-output .reflist-lower-roman{list-style-type:lower-roman}</style><div class="reflist"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-1">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1238218222">.mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free.id-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited.id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration.id-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription.id-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,body:not(.skin-timeless):not(.skin-minerva) .mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background-size:contain;padding:0 1em 0 0}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:var(--color-error,#d33)}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#085;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}@media screen{.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}html.skin-theme-clientpref-night .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}@media screen and (prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os .mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{color:#18911f}}</style><cite id="CITEREFLambrecht1996" class="citation book cs1">Lambrecht, Knud (1996). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://worldcat.org/oclc/1100677082"><i>Information structure and sentence form : topic, focus, and the mental representations of discourse referents</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-316-03949-6" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-316-03949-6"><bdi>978-1-316-03949-6</bdi></a>. <a href="/wiki/OCLC_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="OCLC (identifier)">OCLC</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/1100677082">1100677082</a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Information+structure+and+sentence+form+%3A+topic%2C+focus%2C+and+the+mental+representations+of+discourse+referents&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1996&rft_id=info%3Aoclcnum%2F1100677082&rft.isbn=978-1-316-03949-6&rft.aulast=Lambrecht&rft.aufirst=Knud&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fworldcat.org%2Foclc%2F1100677082&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-CGEL-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-CGEL_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-CGEL_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFHuddlestonPullum2002" class="citation book cs1"><a href="/wiki/Rodney_Huddleston" title="Rodney Huddleston">Huddleston</a>; <a href="/wiki/Geoffrey_K._Pullum" title="Geoffrey K. Pullum">Pullum</a> (2002). <i>Cambridge Grammar of the English Language</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Cambridge+Grammar+of+the+English+Language&rft.place=Cambridge&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=2002&rft.au=Huddleston&rft.au=Pullum&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-Abbott-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-Abbott_4-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAbbott2006" class="citation book cs1">Abbott, Barbara (2006). "Definiteness and indefiniteness". In Horn, R. L.; Ward, G (eds.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470756959"><i>The handbook of pragmatics</i></a>. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. pp. 122–149. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.1002%2F9780470756959">10.1002/9780470756959</a>. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780470756959" title="Special:BookSources/9780470756959"><bdi>9780470756959</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=bookitem&rft.atitle=Definiteness+and+indefiniteness&rft.btitle=The+handbook+of+pragmatics&rft.pages=122-149&rft.pub=Blackwell+Publishing+Ltd&rft.date=2006&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.1002%2F9780470756959&rft.isbn=9780470756959&rft.aulast=Abbott&rft.aufirst=Barbara&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1002%2F9780470756959&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFMilsark1977" class="citation journal cs1">Milsark, Gary (1977). "Toward an explanation of certain peculiarities of the existential construction in English". <i>Linguistic Analysis</i>. <b>3</b>: 1–29.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Linguistic+Analysis&rft.atitle=Toward+an+explanation+of+certain+peculiarities+of+the+existential+construction+in+English&rft.volume=3&rft.pages=1-29&rft.date=1977&rft.aulast=Milsark&rft.aufirst=Gary&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:1-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-3"><sup><i><b>d</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-4"><sup><i><b>e</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-:1_6-5"><sup><i><b>f</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFLyons1999" class="citation book cs1">Lyons, Christopher (1999). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://books.google.com/books?id=1MeX8240YTUC"><i>Definiteness</i></a>. Cambridge University Press. <a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-521-36835-3" title="Special:BookSources/978-0-521-36835-3"><bdi>978-0-521-36835-3</bdi></a>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&rft.genre=book&rft.btitle=Definiteness&rft.pub=Cambridge+University+Press&rft.date=1999&rft.isbn=978-0-521-36835-3&rft.aulast=Lyons&rft.aufirst=Christopher&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fbooks.google.com%2Fbooks%3Fid%3D1MeX8240YTUC&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFWagner" class="citation web cs1">Wagner, Jennifer. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://ielanguages.com/danish-articles.html">"Danish Articles and Demonstratives"</a>. <i>ielanguages.com</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201024100855/https://ielanguages.com/danish-articles.html">Archived</a> from the original on Oct 24, 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2020-10-22</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=ielanguages.com&rft.atitle=Danish+Articles+and+Demonstratives&rft.aulast=Wagner&rft.aufirst=Jennifer&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fielanguages.com%2Fdanish-articles.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-:0-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-:0_8-0">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a class="external text" href="https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Grammar">"Japanese/Grammar"</a>. <i>Wikibooks</i>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20201026144743/https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Grammar">Archived</a> from the original on Oct 26, 2020<span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2020-10-22</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=unknown&rft.jtitle=Wikibooks&rft.atitle=Japanese%2FGrammar&rft_id=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikibooks.org%2Fwiki%2FJapanese%2FGrammar&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><cite id="CITEREFAljović,_Nadira2002" class="citation journal cs1">Aljović, Nadira (2002). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://rlv.revues.org/document351.html">"Long adjectival inflection and specificity in Serbo-Croatian"</a>. <i>Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes</i>. <b>31</b> (31): 27–42. <a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<span class="id-lock-free" title="Freely accessible"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.4000%2Frlv.351">10.4000/rlv.351</a></span><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2007-03-30</span></span>.</cite><span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&rft.genre=article&rft.jtitle=Recherches+Linguistiques+de+Vincennes&rft.atitle=Long+adjectival+inflection+and+specificity+in+Serbo-Croatian&rft.volume=31&rft.issue=31&rft.pages=27-42&rft.date=2002&rft_id=info%3Adoi%2F10.4000%2Frlv.351&rft.au=Aljovi%C4%87%2C+Nadira&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Frlv.revues.org%2Fdocument351.html&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3ADefiniteness" class="Z3988"></span></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Notes"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239543626"><div class="reflist reflist-lower-alpha"> <div class="mw-references-wrap"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">See <a href="/wiki/Form-meaning_mismatch" title="Form-meaning mismatch">Form-meaning mismatch</a></span> </li> </ol></div></div> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Further_reading">Further reading</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Further reading"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li>Aguilar-Guevara A, Pozas Loyo J, Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado V (eds.). 2019. Definiteness across languages. Berlin: Language Science Press. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <a href="/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-3-96110-193-1" title="Special:BookSources/978-3-96110-193-1">978-3-96110-193-1</a>. <link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1238218222"><a href="/wiki/Doi_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="Doi (identifier)">doi</a>:<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://doi.org/10.5281%2Fzenodo.3265959">10.5281/zenodo.3265959</a>. Open Access. <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/227">http://langsci-press.org/catalog/book/227</a>.</li> <li>Hawkins, J.A. (1978) <i>Definiteness and indefiniteness: a study in reference and grammaticality prediction</i>. London:Croom Helm.</li> <li><i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.glottopedia.de/index.php/Definiteness">Definite</a></i> article from <a href="/wiki/Glottopedia" title="Glottopedia">Glottopedia</a></li></ul> <div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Definiteness&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: External links"><span>edit</span></a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></div> <ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosyntactic/definiteness/">http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosyntactic/definiteness/</a> doi <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.smg.surrey.ac.uk/features/morphosyntactic/definiteness/">10.15126/SMG.18/1.06</a></li></ul> <div class="navbox-styles"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1236075235">.mw-parser-output .navbox{box-sizing:border-box;border:1px solid #a2a9b1;width:100%;clear:both;font-size:88%;text-align:center;padding:1px;margin:1em auto 0}.mw-parser-output .navbox .navbox{margin-top:0}.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox+.navbox-styles+.navbox{margin-top:-1px}.mw-parser-output .navbox-inner,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{width:100%}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group,.mw-parser-output .navbox-title,.mw-parser-output .navbox-abovebelow{padding:0.25em 1em;line-height:1.5em;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .navbox-group{white-space:nowrap;text-align:right}.mw-parser-output .navbox,.mw-parser-output .navbox-subgroup{background-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list{line-height:1.5em;border-color:#fdfdfd}.mw-parser-output .navbox-list-with-group{text-align:left;border-left-width:2px;border-left-style:solid}.mw-parser-output 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.navbar{float:left;text-align:left;margin-right:0.5em}body.skin--responsive .mw-parser-output .navbox-image img{max-width:none!important}@media print{body.ns-0 .mw-parser-output .navbox{display:none!important}}</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Formal_semantics_(natural_language)" style="padding:3px"><table class="nowraplinks mw-collapsible autocollapse navbox-inner" style="border-spacing:0;background:transparent;color:inherit"><tbody><tr><th scope="col" class="navbox-title" colspan="2"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1129693374"><link rel="mw-deduplicated-inline-style" href="mw-data:TemplateStyles:r1239400231"><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/wiki/Template:Formal_semantics" title="Template:Formal semantics"><abbr title="View this template">v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Formal_semantics" title="Template talk:Formal 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href="/wiki/Extension_(semantics)" title="Extension (semantics)">Extension</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generalized_quantifier" title="Generalized quantifier">Generalized quantifier</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intension" title="Intension">Intension</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Logical_form_(linguistics)" title="Logical form (linguistics)">Logical form</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Presupposition" title="Presupposition">Presupposition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Proposition" title="Proposition">Proposition</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reference" title="Reference">Reference</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scope_(formal_semantics)" title="Scope (formal semantics)">Scope</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Speech_act" title="Speech act">Speech act</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Syntax%E2%80%93semantics_interface" title="Syntax–semantics interface">Syntax–semantics interface</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Truth-conditional_semantics" title="Truth-conditional semantics">Truth conditions</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Topics</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Areas</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Anaphora_(linguistics)" title="Anaphora (linguistics)">Anaphora</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ambiguity" title="Ambiguity">Ambiguity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Binding_(linguistics)" title="Binding (linguistics)">Binding</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conditional_sentence" title="Conditional sentence">Conditionals</a></li> <li><a class="mw-selflink selflink">Definiteness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Disjunction" class="mw-redirect" title="Disjunction">Disjunction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Evidentiality" title="Evidentiality">Evidentiality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">Focus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Indexicality" title="Indexicality">Indexicality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lexical_semantics" title="Lexical semantics">Lexical semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Linguistic_modality" class="mw-redirect" title="Linguistic modality">Modality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Negation" title="Negation">Negation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Propositional_attitudes" class="mw-redirect" title="Propositional attitudes">Propositional attitudes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Tense%E2%80%93aspect%E2%80%93mood" title="Tense–aspect–mood">Tense–aspect–mood</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantifier_(logic)" title="Quantifier (logic)">Quantification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Vagueness" title="Vagueness">Vagueness</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Phenomena</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Antecedent-contained_deletion" title="Antecedent-contained deletion">Antecedent-contained deletion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cataphora" title="Cataphora">Cataphora</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Coercion_(linguistics)" title="Coercion (linguistics)">Coercion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conservativity" title="Conservativity">Conservativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Counterfactuals" class="mw-redirect" title="Counterfactuals">Counterfactuals</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Crossover_effects" title="Crossover effects">Crossover effects</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Cumulativity_(linguistics)" title="Cumulativity (linguistics)">Cumulativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/De_dicto_and_de_re" title="De dicto and de re">De dicto and de re</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/De_se" title="De se">De se</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Deontic_modality" title="Deontic modality">Deontic modality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Discourse_relation" title="Discourse relation">Discourse relations</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Donkey_anaphora" class="mw-redirect" title="Donkey anaphora">Donkey anaphora</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Epistemic_modality" title="Epistemic modality">Epistemic modality</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Exhaustivity" title="Exhaustivity">Exhaustivity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Faultless_disagreement" title="Faultless disagreement">Faultless disagreement</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Free_choice_inference" title="Free choice inference">Free choice inferences</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Givenness" title="Givenness">Givenness</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Homogeneity_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Homogeneity (linguistics)">Homogeneity (linguistics)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Hurford_disjunction" title="Hurford disjunction">Hurford disjunction</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inalienable_possession" title="Inalienable possession">Inalienable possession</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intersective_modifier" title="Intersective modifier">Intersective modification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Logophoricity" title="Logophoricity">Logophoricity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Modal_subordination" title="Modal subordination">Modal subordination</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Opaque_context" title="Opaque context">Opaque contexts</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Performative_utterance" title="Performative utterance">Performatives</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Polarity_item" title="Polarity item">Polarity items</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Privative_adjective" title="Privative adjective">Privative adjectives</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantificational_variability_effect" title="Quantificational variability effect">Quantificational variability effect</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Responsive_predicate" title="Responsive predicate">Responsive predicate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Rising_declarative" title="Rising declarative">Rising declaratives</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Scalar_implicature" title="Scalar implicature">Scalar implicature</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Sloppy_identity" title="Sloppy identity">Sloppy identity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subsective_modifier" title="Subsective modifier">Subsective modification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Subtrigging" title="Subtrigging">Subtrigging</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Telicity" title="Telicity">Telicity</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Temperature_paradox" title="Temperature paradox">Temperature paradox</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Veridicality" title="Veridicality">Veridicality</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Formalism</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"></div><table class="nowraplinks navbox-subgroup" style="border-spacing:0"><tbody><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Formal systems</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Alternative_semantics" title="Alternative semantics">Alternative semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Categorial_grammar" title="Categorial grammar">Categorial grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Combinatory_categorial_grammar" title="Combinatory categorial grammar">Combinatory categorial grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Discourse_representation_theory" title="Discourse representation theory">Discourse representation theory (DRT)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Dynamic_semantics" title="Dynamic semantics">Dynamic semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Generative_grammar" title="Generative grammar">Generative grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Glue_semantics" title="Glue semantics">Glue semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inquisitive_semantics" title="Inquisitive semantics">Inquisitive semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Intensional_logic" title="Intensional logic">Intensional logic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Lambda_calculus" title="Lambda calculus">Lambda calculus</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Mereology" title="Mereology">Mereology</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Montague_grammar" title="Montague grammar">Montague grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Segmented_discourse_representation_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Segmented discourse representation theory">Segmented discourse representation theory (SDRT)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Situation_semantics" title="Situation semantics">Situation semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Supervaluationism" title="Supervaluationism">Supervaluationism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_theory" title="Type theory">Type theory</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_theory_with_records" title="Type theory with records">TTR</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Autonomy_of_syntax" title="Autonomy of syntax">Autonomy of syntax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Context_set" class="mw-redirect" title="Context set">Context set</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Continuation" title="Continuation">Continuation</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Conversational_scoreboard" title="Conversational scoreboard">Conversational scoreboard</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Downward_entailing" title="Downward entailing">Downward entailing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Existential_closure" title="Existential closure">Existential closure</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Function_application" title="Function application">Function application</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Meaning_postulate" title="Meaning postulate">Meaning postulate</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Monad_(functional_programming)" title="Monad (functional programming)">Monads</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Plural_quantification" title="Plural quantification">Plural quantification</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Possible_world" title="Possible world">Possible world</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantifier_raising" class="mw-redirect" title="Quantifier raising">Quantifier raising</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Quantization_(linguistics)" title="Quantization (linguistics)">Quantization</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Question_under_discussion" title="Question under discussion">Question under discussion</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Semantic_parsing" title="Semantic parsing">Semantic parsing</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Squiggle_operator" title="Squiggle operator">Squiggle operator</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strawson_entailment" title="Strawson entailment">Strawson entailment</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Strict_conditional" title="Strict conditional">Strict conditional</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Type_shifter" title="Type shifter">Type shifter</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Universal_grinder" title="Universal grinder">Universal grinder</a></li></ul> </div></td></tr></tbody></table><div></div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">See also</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-even hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Cognitive_semantics" title="Cognitive semantics">Cognitive semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Computational_semantics" title="Computational semantics">Computational semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Distributional_semantics" title="Distributional semantics">Distributional semantics</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Formal_grammar" title="Formal grammar">Formal grammar</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Inferentialism" class="mw-redirect" title="Inferentialism">Inferentialism</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Logic_translation" title="Logic translation">Logic translation</a></li> <li><a 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