Definiteness in NorSource Lars Hellan and Dorothee Beermann The outline

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Definiteness in NorSource Lars Hellan and
Dorothee BeermannThe outline

• The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrases
• Some basic facts about Norwegian definite noun
  phrases
• morpho-syntax of definite noun phrases in
  NorSource
• The distribution of pronouns
• the use of a CTXT feature in NorSource to
  constrain pronoun distribution
• The semantics of definite expressions
• MRS of definite noun-phrases
• the MRS of deictic noun phrases
• MRS account for the type-token distinction
• The interpretation of definite expressions in
  context

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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts

Morpho-syntactically the definiteness of a noun
phrase is signaled in Norwegian the following
ways (1) by a suffix on the noun (2) by a suffix
on the noun in combination with a definite
determiner (3) by a possessive pronoun only which
must be preceding the noun (4) possibly by a
determiner if the noun receives a 'type'
interpretation
(1) gutt- en sove-r boy-DEF.COM
sleep-PRES the boy sleeps COM stands for
common gender (femmasc)
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts

Morpho-syntactically the definiteness of a noun
phrase is signalled in Norwegian in the
following ways (1) by a suffix on the noun (2)
by a suffix on the noun in combination with a
definite determiner (3) by a possessive pronoun
only which must preceding the noun (4) possibly
by a determiner if the noun receives a 'type'
interpretation
(2) example 1 denne gutt-en sove-r that
boy-DEF.COM sleep-PRES That boy sleeps
denne gutt sove-r the occurrence of a
determiner requires the presence of the
definite suffix on the nominal head.
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts

Morpho-syntactically the definiteness of a noun
phrase is signalled in Norwegian in the
following ways (1) by a suffix on the noun (2)
by a suffix on the noun in combination with a
definite determiner (3) by a possessive pronoun
only which must preceding the noun (4) possibly
by a determiner if the noun receives a 'type'
interpretation
(3) min gutt sove-r my boy sleep-PRES My
boys sleeps Norwegian just like English does
not express morphologically the definiteness of
a possessive construction when the possessive
pronoun precedes the nominal head.
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts
Morpho-syntactically the definiteness of a noun
phrase is signalled in Norwegian in the
following ways (1) by a suffix on the noun (2)
by a suffix on the noun in combination with a
definite determiner (3) by a possessive pronoun
only which must preceding the noun (4) by a
possessive following the noun in combination
with a suffix on the noun (5) possibly by a
determiner if the noun receives a 'type'
interpretation

(4) gutt-en min sove-r boy-DEF.COM my slee
p-PRES My boys sleeps gutt min sove-r
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts
Morpho-syntactically the definiteness of a noun
phrase is signal ed in Norwegian in the
following ways (1) by a suffix on the noun (2)
by a suffix on the noun in combination with a
definite determiner (3) by a possessive pronoun
only which must preceding the noun (4) by a
possessive following the noun in combination
with a suffix on the noun (5) possibly by a
determiner if the noun receives a 'type'
interpretation

(5) den bengalsk-e tiger er utdødd. the
Bengali Tiger has died out. ? den bengalske
tiger-en er utdødd. In some variants of
Norwegian it is less acceptable to add a definite
suffix to common nouns when used in a generic
context.
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definite noun-phrasesBasic
Facts

Summary In Norwegian definiteness has multiple
morpho-syntactic exponents noun
affixes specifiers determiners and possessive
pronouns the combination of noun affixes and
determiners not to be confused with
agreement Notice that adjectival modifiers in
Norwegian may inflect, following the weak (after
definite determiners) or the strong declension
pattern
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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Linguistic Sources
In Scandinavian linguistics definiteness of noun
phrases is a well studied fact. It has been
described for example by Lundeby (1965).
Morpho-syntactic marking of the Norwegian noun
phrase related to the notion of the functional
versus the semantic head of the noun phrases as
been discussed by Hellan (86) . The first to use
HPSG for the feature distribution in Scandinavian
noun phrases was Kersti Börjars (94) in her
dissertation on the Swedish noun phrase. More
about double definiteness, deixis, genitives,
partitives etc can be found there. Lundeby, Einar
(1965) Overbestemt substantiv i norsk og de andre
nordiske språk, Scandinavian University Books,
Oslo. Hellan, Lars (1986) The Headedness of NPs
in Norwegian In Pieter Muysken and Henk van
Riemsdijk (eds) Features and Projections.
Dordrecht Foris Publications Delsing, Lars-Olof
(1993) The Internal Structure of Noun Phrases in
the Scandinavian Languages. PhD diss., Lund
Börjars, Kersti (1994), Feature Distribution in
Swedish Noun Phrases, Department of Linguistics,
University of Manchester
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The morpho-syntax of definiteness in NorSource
HEAD-FEATURES OF NOMINAL EXPRESSION DEFINITE
MORPH-DEF DEF DEFINITENESS
To signal that an expression is marked
morphologically for definiteness we use the
feature DEFINITE, which really should be called
MORPH-DEF. To signal that an expression is
semantically definite we use the feature DEF.
den snille gutten
min gutt
The specifier constraints its right hand daughter
to have the following head specification SPR.SP
EC lt ...DEF DEFINITE gt
The possessive specifier constraints its
right-hand daughter to have the following head
specification
SPR.SPEC lt ...DEF DEFINITE - gt
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The use of a CTXT feature in NorSource to
constrain pronoun distribution
    gutt-en spiser den ikke
gutt-en spiser ikke den     boy-DEF.COMM eats it
not boy-DEF.COMM eats not
that NorSource makes use of boolean constraint
under CTXT to regulate the distribution of
pronouns     ...CTXT.DISC.BOUND bool Pronoun
resolution is not a present concern of NorSource
The interpretation of pronouns in also in
Norwegian determined by left to right order.
Pronouns occurring to the left of a negation
receive a given interpretation.
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The Semantics of definite descriptions in
NorSource
NorSource, Fefor 2006

Following general MRS design, NorSource binds all
referential variables. Definite nominal
expression are bound by def_q_rel. Deixis and
contextual interpretation of definite
expression are expressed through interlingua
relations.


NorSource, Fefor 2006
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The Semantics of definite descriptions in
NorSource Example (1)
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Universal quantification of a deictic expression
alle disse gutt-ene min-e all these boy-PL.DEF
(of)mine-PL
NorSource, Fefor 2006
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Conclusion

• definite expression in NorSource are bound by
  def_q_rel.
• interpretation of definite expressions is
  expressed through additional interlingua
  relations
• deixis, familiarity, genericity have been treated
  in this way
• partitive constructions as well as container noun
  constructions have been implemented in MRS making
  use of a 'measure-out'-rel and other interlingua
  relations the latter constructions are not
  discussed in this presentation
• the morpho-syntactic treatment of definite
  expressions is complete
• NorSource plans to further explore the contextual
  interpretation of definite nominal expression
  along the lines shown above.