Means of expressing pragmatic conditions in the definite description
These means can be explicit and implicit.
Explicit Means of the Definite Reference
El- D+pN the face of the youth
E2 - D+Adv the fields below
E3 - D+clause the changes that have begun...
E4 - A+D the most necessary and urgent duties
E5 Q (numeral) +D the second day
E6 - Q(N)(card.num.)+D the 1970 constitution
E7 - D+toV (inf.) the opportunity to express
E8 - D+Ving 1(part.1) the man carrying...
E9 - D+Ven (part 2) the reform initiated by...
E10 - D+Ving2 (gerund) the reputation of being a beauty
Ell- D+PI (pronoun) the grass behind him
E12 N2 (prop.n.)+D Colombo, the capital (appositive relations)
E13 - D+N (prop.n) the newspaper Times
E14 N3+D the Geneva talks (no apposition)
A number of these explicit means are polisemantic/ polifunctional which means that they can express different types of pragmatic conditions.
E1
In the darkness of early morning quality
In the bar under the grand stand location
The sudden arrival of these people predicate-subject relations
The book of the man behind him possession
The combination of several explicit means makes the semantics of definite description more complex.
He was the first patient to enter E5+E7 (subject-predicate relations + temporal relations)
The identical combination of explicit means may bring about different combinations of pragmatic conditions
E1+E4
The most fashionable dressmakers in Paris (quality + location)
The most sacred traditions of the melodrama (quality + equivalence)
The function of explicit means is to duplicate the information about the referent to make it unique under the circumstances.
Implicit means
1) Associative anaphoric use (based on the previous knowledge)/presupposition
2) Shared general knowledge
3) Immediate situation use/ visible situation use
4) Posterior context (cataphoric use)
I1 -D + presupposition
She was a stout woman with a red face. The eyes seemed to confess inner tension pragmatic conditions: possession
The owl hooted and the sound seemed to fill the whole night pragmatic conditions: equivalence (hooting = sound)
I2 D + shared knowledge
At the time just after the war - pragmatic conditions: equivalence
I3 - D+ visible situation
The referent is located in the given situation.
Close the window - pragmatic conditions: location
I4-D + postcontext/cataphoric use (the explanation comes after the D)
And then came the catastrophe: she decided to marry that man.
Summary:
1) The definite article only signals the definite reference
2) It performs the individualizing function not by itself but only as a part of the definite description
3) The definite reference is realized through certain relations between the components of a noun phrase called pragmatic conditions.
4) The contextual meaning duplicate the information about the definite reference and reduce the sphere of reference to a particular object.
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The conditions of the definite reference are as follows:
- there exist at least one object that the speaker refers to as a unique under the circumstances
- the idea of oneness
- existence
- unique character of the object (!)
Do you remember a man called Smith? an object isnt unique
Do you remember the man called Smith? an unique object
This is a communicative intention of the speaker that makes an object unique (the speaker determines whether the object is unique or not)
The other semantic functions of the definite article are:
- class generalization
- total generalization
Class generalization reference is made to the composite image of the whole class. The noun is used in the singular (!)
The tiger is dangerous.
In case of total generalization the reference is made to the totality of the class. The noun is used in the plural (!)
The Italians are good singers.
In these semantic functions the relations of equivalence are expressed.
The functional semantic field (FSF) of definiteness/indefiniteness
Micro-field of Definiteness
The plane of content
The plane of expression
The indefinite reference
Unlike the definite reference the indefinite reference is marked by an indefinite article in the singular and the zero article in the plural.
Actualizer a
Descriptor a book
Description is broader
The indefinite reference is realized by the following semantic functions
1) Concrete nomination to name a concrete object. The situation is characterized by time or place location and the internal semantics of the description are time and place
Then she gave him a letter of invitation
2) Inconcrete nomination the object is presented as unreal, imaginable, probable. Internal semantics are unreality
I suppose he never received a letter signed this way.
3) Classification the internal semantics are referring to a class or presenting an opposition
Mary is a doctor (referring to a class)
They are doctors (opposition)
5) Universal generalization the referent is presented as a typical member of the class and internal semantics are of generalization or comparison
A mad man is a very dangerous thing (generalization)
6) Quazi-total generalization it shows that reference is made to most bat not to all members of the class, it mans in general. The internal semantics are generalization or comparison
Swine like peanuts.
