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<title>Definiteness</title>

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</style><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable">For other uses, see <a href="Definiteness_(disambiguation)" class="mw-disambig" title="Definiteness (disambiguation)">Definiteness (disambiguation)</a>.</div>

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</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks" style="width:18em"><tbody><tr><th class="sidebar-title" style="background:#ccccff;font-size:110%"><a href="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="Animacy" title="Animacy">Animacy</a></li>

<ul><li><a href="Dative_construction" title="Dative construction">Dative construction</a></li>

<li><a href="Dative_shift" title="Dative shift">Dative shift</a></li>

<li><a href="Quirky_subject" title="Quirky subject">Quirky subject</a></li>

<li><a href="Nominative_case" title="Nominative case">Nominative</a></li>

<li><a href="Comitative_case" title="Comitative case">Comitative</a></li>

<li><a href="Instrumental_case" title="Instrumental case">Instrumental</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Classifier_(linguistics)" title="Classifier (linguistics)">Classifier</a>

<ul><li><a href="Measure_word" title="Measure word">Measure word</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Construct_state" title="Construct state">Construct state</a></li>

<li>Countability

<ul><li><a href="Count_noun" title="Count noun">Count noun</a></li>

<li><a href="Collective_noun" title="Collective noun">Collective noun</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Grammatical_gender" title="Grammatical gender">Gender</a></li>

<li><a href="Genitive_construction" title="Genitive construction">Genitive construction</a>

<ul><li><a href="Possession_(linguistics)" title="Possession (linguistics)">Possession</a></li>

<li><a href="Suffixaufnahme" title="Suffixaufnahme">Suffixaufnahme (case stacking)</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Noun_class" title="Noun class">Noun class</a></li>

<li><a href="Grammatical_number" title="Grammatical number">Number</a>

<ul><li><div class="hlist"><ul><li>Singular</li><li><a href="Dual_(grammatical_number)" title="Dual (grammatical number)">Dual</a></li><li><a href="Plural" title="Plural">Plural</a></li></ul></div></li>

<li><a href="Singulative_number" title="Singulative number">Singulative-Collective-Plurative</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">Specificity</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Associated_motion" title="Associated motion">Associated motion</a></li>

<li><a href="Clusivity" title="Clusivity">Clusivity</a></li>

<li><a href="Grammatical_conjugation" title="Grammatical conjugation">Conjugation</a></li>

<li><a href="Evidentiality" title="Evidentiality">Evidentiality</a></li>

<li><a href="Modality_(semantics)" title="Modality (semantics)">Modality</a></li>

<li><a href="Grammatical_person" title="Grammatical person">Person</a></li>

<li><a href="Telicity" title="Telicity">Telicity</a></li>

<li><a href="Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li>

<li><a href="Tense%E2%80%93aspect%E2%80%93mood" title="Tense–aspect–mood">Tense–aspect–mood</a>

<ul><li><a href="Grammatical_aspect" title="Grammatical aspect">Grammatical aspect</a></li>

<li><a href="Lexical_aspect" title="Lexical aspect">Lexical aspect (Aktionsart)</a></li>

<li><a href="Grammatical_tense" title="Grammatical tense">Tense</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="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="Affect_(linguistics)" title="Affect (linguistics)">Affect</a></li>

<li><a href="Boundedness_(linguistics)" title="Boundedness (linguistics)">Boundedness</a></li>

<li><a href="Comparison_(grammar)" class="mw-redirect" title="Comparison (grammar)">Comparison (degree)</a></li>

<li><a href="Egophoricity" title="Egophoricity">Egophoricity</a></li>

<li><a href="Pluractionality" title="Pluractionality">Pluractionality</a> (verbal number)</li>

<li><a href="Honorifics_(linguistics)" title="Honorifics (linguistics)">Honorifics (politeness)</a></li>

<li><a href="Affirmation_and_negation" title="Affirmation and negation">Polarity</a></li>

<li><a href="Reciprocal_construction" title="Reciprocal construction">Reciprocity</a>

<ul><li><a href="Reflexive_pronoun" title="Reflexive pronoun">Reflexive pronoun</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Argument_(linguistics)" title="Argument (linguistics)">Argument</a>

<ul><li><a href="Transitivity_(grammar)" title="Transitivity (grammar)">Transitivity</a></li>

<li><a href="Valency_(linguistics)" title="Valency (linguistics)">Valency</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Branching_(linguistics)" title="Branching (linguistics)">Branching</a></li>

<li><a href="Serial_verb_construction" title="Serial verb construction">Serial verb construction</a></li>

<li>Traditional grammar

<ul><li><a href="Predicate_(grammar)" title="Predicate (grammar)">Predicate</a></li>

<li><a href="Subject_(grammar)" title="Subject (grammar)">Subject</a></li>

<li><a href="Object_(grammar)" title="Object (grammar)">Object</a></li>

<li><a href="Adjunct_(grammar)" title="Adjunct (grammar)">Adjunct</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Contrast_(linguistics)" title="Contrast (linguistics)">Contrast</a></li>

<li><a href="Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li>

<li><a href="Thematic_relation" title="Thematic relation">Thematic relation</a>

<ul><li><a href="Agent_(grammar)" title="Agent (grammar)">Agent</a></li>

<li><a href="Patient_(grammar)" title="Patient (grammar)">Patient</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Topic_and_comment" title="Topic and comment">Topic and Comment</a>

<ul><li><a href="Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">Focus</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Volition_(linguistics)" title="Volition (linguistics)">Volition</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Agreement_(linguistics)" title="Agreement (linguistics)">Agreement</a>

<ul><li><a href="Polypersonal_agreement" title="Polypersonal agreement">Polypersonal agreement</a></li></ul></li>

<li><a href="Declension" title="Declension">Declension</a></li>

<li><a href="Empty_category" title="Empty category">Empty category</a></li>

<li><a href="Incorporation_(linguistics)" title="Incorporation (linguistics)">Incorporation</a></li>

<li><a href="Inflection" title="Inflection">Inflection</a></li>

<li><a href="Markedness" title="Markedness">Markedness</a></li></ul></div></div></td>

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<p>In <a href="Linguistics" title="Linguistics">linguistics</a>, <b>definiteness</b> is a <a href="Semantic_feature" title="Semantic feature">semantic feature</a> of <a href="Noun_phrase" title="Noun phrase">noun phrases</a> that distinguishes between <a href="Referent" title="Referent">referents</a> or <a href="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="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="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="English_language" title="English language">English</a>, it is usually marked by the selection of <a href="Determiner" title="Determiner">determiner</a> (e.g., <i>the</i> vs. <i>a</i>). Still other languages, such as <a href="Danish_language" title="Danish language">Danish</a>, mark definiteness <a href="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)).

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Definiteness_as_a_grammatical_category">Definiteness as a grammatical category</h2></div>

<p>There are times when a grammatically marked definite noun phrase 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="Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">specific</a> bear, in an example of a <a href="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>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Use_in_different_languages">Use in different languages</h2></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading3"><h3 id="English">English</h3></div>

<p>In <a href="English_language" title="English language">English</a>, definiteness is usually marked by the selection of <a href="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="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>

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<ol><li>If a noun phrase can be put into an <a href="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></div>

<ul><li>In <a href="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>

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</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>

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<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="eu" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">emakumea</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;">emakumea</p><p style="display: none;">woman-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the woman"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

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<td><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;">ederra</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 ederra</p><p style="display: none;">woman beautiful-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the beautiful woman"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

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<ul><li>In <a href="Danish_language" title="Danish language">Danish</a>, definiteness is marked <a href="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="Romanian_language" title="Romanian language">Romanian</a>:</li></ul>

<td style="vertical-align: top;"><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;">human</p></div><p style="display: none;">om</p><p style="display: none;">human</p><p style="clear: left;">"human"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

</div>

</td>

<td>    

</td>

<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">omul</p><p style="margin: 0px;">human-<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;">omul</p><p style="display: none;">human-ART</p><p style="clear: left;">"the human"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

</div>

</td>

<td>    

</td>

<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">omul</p><p style="margin: 0px;">human-<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;">omul bun</p><p style="display: none;">human-ART good</p><p style="clear: left;">"the good human"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

</div>

</td>

<td>   

</td>

<td style="vertical-align: top;">or

</td>

<td>   

</td>

<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="ro" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">bunul</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;">human</p></div><p style="display: none;">bunul om</p><p style="display: none;">good-ART human</p><p style="clear: left;">"the good human"</p><div style="clear: left; display: block;"></div>

</div>

</td></tr></tbody></table></dd></dl></dd></dl>

<ul><li>In <a href="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>

<td style="vertical-align: top;"><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><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">djali</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;">djali</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><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><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>

</div>

</td>

<td>    

</td>

<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="sq" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">vajza</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;">vajza 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="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="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="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>

<td><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><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>in <a href="Erzya_language" title="Erzya language">Erzya-Mordvin</a>, verbs exhibit definite (objective) conjugation through personal-pronoun-based suffixes (eg. <i>son</i> "he, she, it"), while noun definiteness is marked by suffixes derived from demonstrative pronouns (eg. <i>ťe</i> "this"):</li></ul>

<td><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">mon</p><p style="margin: 0px;">I</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">lovnan</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="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">kińiga</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>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="indefinite" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">INDEF</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">mon lovnan kińiga</p><p style="display: none;">I read-1SG.PRES.INDEF book-ACC.SG.INDEF</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><div class="interlinear"><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">mon</p><p style="margin: 0px;">I</p></div><div style="float: left; margin-bottom: 0.3em;margin-right: 1em;"><p lang="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">lovnasa</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="myv" style="margin: 0px;font-style: italic;">kińigańť</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>.<abbr class="gloss-abbr" title="definite" style="font-variant: small-caps; font-variant-numeric: lining-nums; text-transform: lowercase;">DEF</abbr></p></div><p style="display: none;">mon lovnasa kińigańť</p><p style="display: none;">I read-1SG.PRES.DEF book-ACC.SG.DEF</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="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="Germanic_languages" title="Germanic languages">Germanic</a>, <a href="Romance_languages" title="Romance languages">Romance</a>, <a href="Celtic_languages" title="Celtic languages">Celtic</a>, <a href="Semitic_languages" title="Semitic languages">Semitic</a>, and <a href="International_auxiliary_language" title="International auxiliary language">auxiliary</a> languages generally have a definite article, often preposed but in some cases postposed. For example, <a href="Hebrew" class="mw-redirect" title="Hebrew">Hebrew</a> <a href="Prefixes_in_Hebrew" title="Prefixes in Hebrew">prefixes</a> the letter <a href="He_(letter)" title="He (letter)">he</a>, while Aramaic <a href="Aramaic#Nouns_and_adjectives" title="Aramaic">suffixes</a> the letter <a href="Aleph_(letter)" class="mw-redirect" title="Aleph (letter)">aleph</a>. Many other languages do not. Some examples are <a href="Chinese_language" title="Chinese language">Chinese</a>, <a href="Japanese_language" title="Japanese language">Japanese</a>, <a href="Finnish_language" title="Finnish language">Finnish</a>, and modern <a href="Slavic_languages" title="Slavic languages">Slavic languages</a> except <a href="Bulgarian_language" title="Bulgarian language">Bulgarian</a> and <a href="Macedonian_language" title="Macedonian language">Macedonian</a>. When necessary, languages of this kind may indicate definiteness by other means such as <a href="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>

</p><p>In most languages, definiteness is marked only on common nouns, since proper nouns are already considered inherently definite. However, <a href="Biblical_Hebrew" title="Biblical Hebrew">Biblical Hebrew</a> shows exceptions where the definite article can be prefixed to proper nouns. This demonstrates that, unlike in most languages, Biblical Hebrew may apply overt definiteness even to proper names, possibly for emphasis or specificity.<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>

</p><p>It is common for definiteness to interact with the marking of <a href="Declension" title="Declension">case</a> in certain syntactic contexts. In many languages, a <a href="Object_(grammar)" title="Object (grammar)">direct object</a> receives distinctive marking only if it is definite. For example, in <a href="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="Serbo-Croatian" title="Serbo-Croatian">Serbo-Croatian</a>, in the <a href="Baltic_languages" title="Baltic languages">Baltic</a> languages <a href="Latvian_language" title="Latvian language">Latvian</a> and <a href="Lithuanian_language" title="Lithuanian language">Lithuanian</a>, and, to a lesser extent in <a href="Slovene_language" title="Slovene language">Slovene</a>, definiteness can be expressed morphologically on prenominal adjectives.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<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="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="Transitivity_(grammatical_category)" class="mw-redirect" title="Transitivity (grammatical category)">transitivity</a> of the <a href="Verb" title="Verb">verb</a>. In the absence of peculiar specificity marking, it also tends to affect the <a href="Telicity" title="Telicity">telicity</a> of mono-occasional <a href="Predicate_(grammar)" title="Predicate (grammar)">predications</a>.

</p><p>In some Scandinavian languages, such as <a href="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 external" title="sv:Species (grammatik)">species</a>.

</p>

<ul><li><a href="Construct_state" title="Construct state">Construct state</a></li>

<li><a href="Article_(grammar)" title="Article (grammar)">Article (grammar)</a></li>

<li><a href="Topic%E2%80%93comment" class="mw-redirect" title="Topic–comment">Topic–comment</a></li>

<li><a href="Specificity_(linguistics)" title="Specificity (linguistics)">Specificity</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</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="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-1-316-03949-6</bdi>. <a href="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>

</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"><cite id="CITEREFHuddlestonPullum2002" class="citation book cs1"><a href="Rodney_Huddleston" title="Rodney Huddleston">Huddleston</a>; <a href="Geoffrey_K._Pullum" title="Geoffrey K. Pullum">Pullum</a> (2002). <i>Cambridge Grammar of the English Language</i>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.</cite></span>

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<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"><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. <span class="nowrap">122–</span>149. <a href="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="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>9780470756959</bdi>.</cite></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"><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>: <span class="nowrap">1–</span>29.</cite></span>

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<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"><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="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-0-521-36835-3</bdi>.</cite></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"><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>

</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"><cite class="citation web cs1"><a class="external text external" 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>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFReuven_Chaim_Klein2025" class="citation journal cs1">Reuven Chaim Klein (2025). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://works.hcommons.org/records/7qw28-qkz54">"Who or What Is Argov? A Philological Survey of a Difficult Lexeme"</a>. <i>Ḥakirah</i>. <a href="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/10.17613%2F7qw28-qkz54">10.17613/7qw28-qkz54</a></span>. <a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1532-1290">1532-1290</a>.</cite></span>

</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><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): <span class="nowrap">27–</span>42. <a href="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>

</li>

</ol></div></div>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Notes">Notes</h2></div>

<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="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></div>

<ul><li>Aguilar-Guevara A, Pozas Loyo J, Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado V (eds.). 2019. Definiteness across languages. Berlin: Language Science Press. <a href="ISBN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISBN (identifier)">ISBN</a> <bdi>978-3-96110-193-1</bdi>. <a href="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="Glottopedia" title="Glottopedia">Glottopedia</a></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></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>

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</style></div><div role="navigation" class="navbox" aria-labelledby="Formal_semantics_(natural_language)78" 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"><div id="Formal_semantics_(natural_language)78" style="font-size:114%;margin:0 4em"><a href="Formal_semantics_(natural_language)" title="Formal semantics (natural language)">Formal semantics (natural language)</a></div></th></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="navbox-group" style="width:1%">Central concepts</th><td class="navbox-list-with-group navbox-list navbox-odd hlist" style="width:100%;padding:0"><div style="padding:0 0.25em">

<ul><li><a href="Principle_of_compositionality" title="Principle of compositionality">Compositionality</a></li>

<li><a href="Denotation" title="Denotation">Denotation</a></li>

<li><a href="Linguistic_entailment" title="Linguistic entailment">Entailment</a></li>

<li><a href="Extension_(semantics)" title="Extension (semantics)">Extension</a></li>

<li><a href="Generalized_quantifier" title="Generalized quantifier">Generalized quantifier</a></li>

<li><a href="Intension" title="Intension">Intension</a></li>

<li><a href="Logical_form_(linguistics)" title="Logical form (linguistics)">Logical form</a></li>

<li><a href="Presupposition" title="Presupposition">Presupposition</a></li>

<li><a href="Proposition" title="Proposition">Proposition</a></li>

<li><a href="Reference" title="Reference">Reference</a></li>

<li><a href="Scope_(formal_semantics)" title="Scope (formal semantics)">Scope</a></li>

<li><a href="Speech_act" title="Speech act">Speech act</a></li>

<li><a href="Syntax%E2%80%93semantics_interface" title="Syntax–semantics interface">Syntax–semantics interface</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Anaphora_(linguistics)" title="Anaphora (linguistics)">Anaphora</a></li>

<li><a href="Ambiguity" title="Ambiguity">Ambiguity</a></li>

<li><a href="Binding_(linguistics)" title="Binding (linguistics)">Binding</a></li>

<li><a href="Conditional_sentence" title="Conditional sentence">Conditionals</a></li>

<li><a href="Disjunction" class="mw-redirect" title="Disjunction">Disjunction</a></li>

<li><a href="Evidentiality" title="Evidentiality">Evidentiality</a></li>

<li><a href="Focus_(linguistics)" title="Focus (linguistics)">Focus</a></li>

<li><a href="Indexicality" title="Indexicality">Indexicality</a></li>

<li><a href="Lexical_semantics" title="Lexical semantics">Lexical semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Modality_(semantics)" title="Modality (semantics)">Modality</a></li>

<li><a href="Negation" title="Negation">Negation</a></li>

<li><a href="Propositional_attitudes" class="mw-redirect" title="Propositional attitudes">Propositional attitudes</a></li>

<li><a href="Tense%E2%80%93aspect%E2%80%93mood" title="Tense–aspect–mood">Tense–aspect–mood</a></li>

<li><a href="Quantifier_(logic)" title="Quantifier (logic)">Quantification</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Antecedent-contained_deletion" title="Antecedent-contained deletion">Antecedent-contained deletion</a></li>

<li><a href="Cataphora" title="Cataphora">Cataphora</a></li>

<li><a href="Coercion_(linguistics)" title="Coercion (linguistics)">Coercion</a></li>

<li><a href="Conservativity" title="Conservativity">Conservativity</a></li>

<li><a href="Counterfactuals" class="mw-redirect" title="Counterfactuals">Counterfactuals</a></li>

<li><a href="Crossover_effects" title="Crossover effects">Crossover effects</a></li>

<li><a href="Cumulativity_(linguistics)" title="Cumulativity (linguistics)">Cumulativity</a></li>

<li><a href="De_dicto_and_de_re" title="De dicto and de re">De dicto and de re</a></li>

<li><a href="Deontic_modality" title="Deontic modality">Deontic modality</a></li>

<li><a href="Discourse_relation" title="Discourse relation">Discourse relations</a></li>

<li><a href="Donkey_anaphora" class="mw-redirect" title="Donkey anaphora">Donkey anaphora</a></li>

<li><a href="Epistemic_modality" title="Epistemic modality">Epistemic modality</a></li>

<li><a href="Exhaustivity" title="Exhaustivity">Exhaustivity</a></li>

<li><a href="Faultless_disagreement" title="Faultless disagreement">Faultless disagreement</a></li>

<li><a href="Free_choice_inference" title="Free choice inference">Free choice inferences</a></li>

<li><a href="Givenness" title="Givenness">Givenness</a></li>

<li><a href="Homogeneity_(linguistics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Homogeneity (linguistics)">Homogeneity (linguistics)</a></li>

<li><a href="Hurford_disjunction" title="Hurford disjunction">Hurford disjunction</a></li>

<li><a href="Inalienable_possession" title="Inalienable possession">Inalienable possession</a></li>

<li><a href="Intersective_modifier" title="Intersective modifier">Intersective modification</a></li>

<li><a href="Logophoricity" title="Logophoricity">Logophoricity</a></li>

<li><a href="Mirativity" title="Mirativity">Mirativity</a></li>

<li><a href="Modal_subordination" title="Modal subordination">Modal subordination</a></li>

<li><a href="Opaque_context" title="Opaque context">Opaque contexts</a></li>

<li><a href="Performative_utterance" title="Performative utterance">Performatives</a></li>

<li><a href="Polarity_item" title="Polarity item">Polarity items</a></li>

<li><a href="Privative_adjective" title="Privative adjective">Privative adjectives</a></li>

<li><a href="Quantificational_variability_effect" title="Quantificational variability effect">Quantificational variability effect</a></li>

<li><a href="Responsive_predicate" title="Responsive predicate">Responsive predicate</a></li>

<li><a href="Rising_declarative" title="Rising declarative">Rising declaratives</a></li>

<li><a href="Scalar_implicature" title="Scalar implicature">Scalar implicature</a></li>

<li><a href="Sloppy_identity" title="Sloppy identity">Sloppy identity</a></li>

<li><a href="Subsective_modifier" title="Subsective modifier">Subsective modification</a></li>

<li><a href="Subtrigging" title="Subtrigging">Subtrigging</a></li>

<li><a href="Telicity" title="Telicity">Telicity</a></li>

<li><a href="Temperature_paradox" title="Temperature paradox">Temperature paradox</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Alternative_semantics" title="Alternative semantics">Alternative semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Categorial_grammar" title="Categorial grammar">Categorial grammar</a></li>

<li><a href="Combinatory_categorial_grammar" title="Combinatory categorial grammar">Combinatory categorial grammar</a></li>

<li><a href="Discourse_representation_theory" title="Discourse representation theory">Discourse representation theory (DRT)</a></li>

<li><a href="Dynamic_semantics" title="Dynamic semantics">Dynamic semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Generative_grammar" title="Generative grammar">Generative grammar</a></li>

<li><a href="Glue_semantics" title="Glue semantics">Glue semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Inquisitive_semantics" title="Inquisitive semantics">Inquisitive semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Intensional_logic" title="Intensional logic">Intensional logic</a></li>

<li><a href="Lambda_calculus" title="Lambda calculus">Lambda calculus</a></li>

<li><a href="Mereology" title="Mereology">Mereology</a></li>

<li><a href="Montague_grammar" title="Montague grammar">Montague grammar</a></li>

<li><a href="Segmented_discourse_representation_theory" class="mw-redirect" title="Segmented discourse representation theory">Segmented discourse representation theory (SDRT)</a></li>

<li><a href="Situation_semantics" title="Situation semantics">Situation semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Supervaluationism" title="Supervaluationism">Supervaluationism</a></li>

<li><a href="Type_theory" title="Type theory">Type theory</a></li>

</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="Autonomy_of_syntax" title="Autonomy of syntax">Autonomy of syntax</a></li>

<li><a href="Context_set" class="mw-redirect" title="Context set">Context set</a></li>

<li><a href="Continuation" title="Continuation">Continuation</a></li>

<li><a href="Conversational_scoreboard" title="Conversational scoreboard">Conversational scoreboard</a></li>

<li><a href="Downward_entailing" title="Downward entailing">Downward entailing</a></li>

<li><a href="Existential_closure" title="Existential closure">Existential closure</a></li>

<li><a href="Function_application" title="Function application">Function application</a></li>

<li><a href="Meaning_postulate" title="Meaning postulate">Meaning postulate</a></li>

<li><a href="Monad_(functional_programming)" title="Monad (functional programming)">Monads</a></li>

<li><a href="Plural_quantification" title="Plural quantification">Plural quantification</a></li>

<li><a href="Possible_world" title="Possible world">Possible world</a></li>

<li><a href="Quantifier_raising" class="mw-redirect" title="Quantifier raising">Quantifier raising</a></li>

<li><a href="Quantization_(linguistics)" title="Quantization (linguistics)">Quantization</a></li>

<li><a href="Question_under_discussion" title="Question under discussion">Question under discussion</a></li>

<li><a href="Semantic_parsing" title="Semantic parsing">Semantic parsing</a></li>

<li><a href="Squiggle_operator" title="Squiggle operator">Squiggle operator</a></li>

<li><a href="Strawson_entailment" title="Strawson entailment">Strawson entailment</a></li>

<li><a href="Strict_conditional" title="Strict conditional">Strict conditional</a></li>

<li><a href="Type_shifter" title="Type shifter">Type shifter</a></li>

<li><a href="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="Cognitive_semantics" title="Cognitive semantics">Cognitive semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Computational_semantics" title="Computational semantics">Computational semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Distributional_semantics" title="Distributional semantics">Distributional semantics</a></li>

<li><a href="Formal_grammar" title="Formal grammar">Formal grammar</a></li>

<li><a href="Inferentialism" class="mw-redirect" title="Inferentialism">Inferentialism</a></li>

<li><a href="Logic_translation" title="Logic translation">Logic translation</a></li>

<li><a href="Linguistics_wars" title="Linguistics wars">Linguistics wars</a></li>

<li><a href="Philosophy_of_language" title="Philosophy of language">Philosophy of language</a></li>

<li><a href="Pragmatics" title="Pragmatics">Pragmatics</a></li>

<li><a href="Semantics_of_logic" title="Semantics of logic">Semantics of logic</a></li></ul>

</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

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