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The Inner Makeup of Definite Determiners: The Case of Germanic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2013

Dorian Roehrs
Dorian Roehrs*
Affiliation:
University of North Texas
*
Department of World Languages, Literatures, andCultures, University of North Texas, 1155 UnionCircle #311127, Denton, Texas, 76203-5017,USA, [roehrs@unt.edu]
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Abstract

This paper studies the internal structure of definite articles anddemon-stratives in twelve Germanic languages. Examining synchronic anddiachronic data as well as systematic gaps, it seeks to illuminate the nature ofdefiniteness markers and inflections, d- and-er in German d-er ‘the'and d-ies-er ‘this', with the goal ofidentifying some consequences for the syntax of the determiner phrase as awhole. Arguing that definite-ness markers are semantically vacuous elements, thepaper proposes that articles involve an inflectional head in the syntax anddemonstratives consist of an inflectional and a deictic head. Isomorphiccorrespondences between overt components and abstract syntactic structure may bepartially or completely “masked” by postsyntacticoperations.*

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Articles
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Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 25 , Issue 4 , December 2013 , pp. 295 - 411
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2013 

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