Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds

Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds

In this paper we present a unified analysis of generic and weak interpretations of definite (DEF) and demonstrative (DEM) descriptions. In such contexts, the DEF only denotes the kind, whereas the DEM cannot denote the maximal node of a taxonomy. We claim that this contrast can be explained if we tr...

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Main Authors: Renato Miguel Basso, Roberta Pires de Oliveira
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Open Library of Humanities 2015-06-01
Series:Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
Online Access:http://jpl.letras.ulisboa.pt/articles/57
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spelling doaj-6372221f0bb6457f87dce5eec178365e2021-09-02T05:43:12ZengOpen Library of HumanitiesJournal of Portuguese Linguistics1645-45372397-55632015-06-01141456210.5334/jpl.5755Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of KindsRenato Miguel Basso0Roberta Pires de Oliveira1Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Rua Padre Teixeira, 1370, ap. 113, São Carlos – SP, CEP 13561-050 BrazilUniversidade Federal do Paraná/CNPq, Rua Itapiranga, 200, bloco 2, apto 202, Itacorubi CEP:88034-480. Florianópolis, SC. BrazilIn this paper we present a unified analysis of generic and weak interpretations of definite (DEF) and demonstrative (DEM) descriptions. In such contexts, the DEF only denotes the kind, whereas the DEM cannot denote the maximal node of a taxonomy. We claim that this contrast can be explained if we transpose Wolter’s (2006) semantics to the domain of kinds, a domain of taxonomies. The paper presents this proposal, which is also an argument against the direct referential treatment of demonstratives.http://jpl.letras.ulisboa.pt/articles/57
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Renato Miguel Basso
Roberta Pires de Oliveira
spellingShingle Renato Miguel Basso
Roberta Pires de Oliveira
Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
author_facet Renato Miguel Basso
Roberta Pires de Oliveira
author_sort Renato Miguel Basso
title Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
title_short Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
title_full Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
title_fullStr Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
title_full_unstemmed Generic and Weak Demonstratives: The Realm of Kinds
title_sort generic and weak demonstratives: the realm of kinds
publisher Open Library of Humanities
series Journal of Portuguese Linguistics
issn 1645-4537
2397-5563
publishDate 2015-06-01
description In this paper we present a unified analysis of generic and weak interpretations of definite (DEF) and demonstrative (DEM) descriptions. In such contexts, the DEF only denotes the kind, whereas the DEM cannot denote the maximal node of a taxonomy. We claim that this contrast can be explained if we transpose Wolter’s (2006) semantics to the domain of kinds, a domain of taxonomies. The paper presents this proposal, which is also an argument against the direct referential treatment of demonstratives.
url http://jpl.letras.ulisboa.pt/articles/57
work_keys_str_mv AT renatomiguelbasso genericandweakdemonstrativestherealmofkinds
AT robertapiresdeoliveira genericandweakdemonstrativestherealmofkinds
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