'Der und der hat mir neulich das und das erzählt': On the Interpretation of DPs with Article Conjunction

Autor/innen

  • Maria Cieschinger
  • Cornelia Ebert

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2390/biecoll-nlk2008-2

Schlagworte:

Definiteness, Presuppositions, Maximise Presupposition, DDC: 400 (Language, linguistics)

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate DPs with article-conjunction heads in German (AC-DPs). We argue that they are non-referential expressions, which impose certain constraints on the discourse model in which they can felicitously be used. We suggest that AC-DPs presuppose the existence of a previous conversation between the speaker and someone other than the hearer, and that a definite or a name was used in this conversation to refer to the referent of the AC-DP. We also illustrate how the use of AC-DPs can be explained by way of general pragmatic principles like 'Maximise Presupposition'.

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Veröffentlicht

2008-12-31