Timeline for What diagnostics distinguish demonstratives from definite articles?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| May 17, 2012 at 13:11 | comment | added | Gaston Ümlaut | @dainichi If I remember right, I think John Lyons (1979) has a good discussion of anaphora and discourse deixis. | |
| May 17, 2012 at 7:48 | comment | added | dainichi | @GastonÜmlaut Ah, I probably wasn't clear on that distinction. Thanks for the clue, I'll read up. | |
| May 17, 2012 at 6:33 | comment | added | Gaston Ümlaut | @dainichi Definite articles are usually thought of as primarily anaphoric, but it's true, they can be deictic. Demonstratives however are primarily deictic. | |
| May 17, 2012 at 2:26 | comment | added | dainichi | @GastonÜmlaut Isn't that exactly what definite articles do? Discourse deixis? | |
| Oct 9, 2011 at 0:56 | comment | added | Gaston Ümlaut | @LouisRhys Discourse deixis. | |
| Oct 7, 2011 at 17:45 | comment | added | Louis Rhys | How about sentences like "This theory ... "? What is the deixis in this case? | |
| Oct 7, 2011 at 1:08 | comment | added | Gaston Ümlaut | @kaleissin I think all languages would have some way of expressing definitiness (it seems to me to be a necessary function for human communication), but there are plenty that don't have a definite article. I'm sure that all languages have demonstratives, but their core function is not definiteness but to indicate something by location with reference to the speaker. | |
| Oct 3, 2011 at 13:48 | comment | added | Alexis Wellwood | @kaleissin: examples? | |
| Oct 3, 2011 at 6:02 | comment | added | kaleissin | .. and some don't have anything that shows definiteness. | |
| Oct 3, 2011 at 3:19 | history | answered | Gaston Ümlaut | CC BY-SA 3.0 |