Jenks (2018): Articulated Definiteness without Articles #
[Jen18] argues that Mandarin distinguishes unique definites, realized
as bare nouns via an unblocked Chierchia-style ι type-shift, from anaphoric
definites, realized as Dem-Clf-N with the demonstrative supplying a
Schwarz-style ι^x; an Index! principle, an instance of Maximize
Presupposition, forces the indexed form whenever an index is available,
except for matrix subjects marking continuing topics. The typology (Table 2)
leaves the marked-unique cell unattested. Cells are derived from each
language's Determiners.inventory, Index! is built with
MaximizePresupposition.mpConstraintOf, and the type-shift claims run
through MeaningPreservation.selectShift. Jenks types the ι^x index as a
property (his §4.4 composition with proper names), while the substrate's
Description.anaphoric carries a Schwarz-style individual index, so §4.4
is not formalized here. The post-Jenks Shan refutation lives in
Moroney2021.lean per chronology discipline.
References #
The typology and its attested cells (Table 2) #
The three [Jen18] Table 2 attested marking strategies. The fourth cell — marked unique — is predicted unattested, with Greenberg's grammaticalization path (articles arise from demonstratives, hence in anaphoric uses first) as the diachronic explanation.
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Mandarin's derived strategy is in the attested set.
Mandarin and Cantonese derive distinct cells — the paper's §6 contrast: Cantonese [Clf-N] is a syncretic definite like English the, while Mandarin marks only anaphoric definites.
Realization in the Mandarin inventory (§3) #
Mandarin realizes anaphoric definiteness — the demonstrative obligatorily expones familiarity uses as Dem-Clf-N.
Mandarin realizes the demonstrative kind, the nà/zhè paradigm, with nà preferred in simple anaphoric environments.
Bridging and donkey definites (§3.1, §3.3) #
The bridging split: part-whole bridging projects uniqueness — bare N in Mandarin (chezi … paizhao 'car … license plate') — while producer-product bridging projects familiarity, which only the demonstrative expones (shi … #(na wei) shiren 'poem … #(that) poet').
Donkey definites pattern with discourse anaphora: the donkey use projects familiarity, so Mandarin requires Dem-Clf-N in ruguo- and dou-conditionals and in relative-clause donkey configurations ((18)–(20); bare conditionals use indeterminate pronouns and involve no definite).
ι unblocked, ι^x blocked (Blocking Principle (23)) #
The type-shift context of a Mandarin bare noun: no article blocks ι or ∃ ("Don't do covertly what you can do overtly", (23)), while the demonstrative paradigm preempts covert ι^x.
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ι is selected for Mandarin bare nouns while ι^x is unavailable: bare N
covers unique but not anaphoric definiteness — the .markedAnaphoric
profile at the type-shift layer.
Index! as a Maximize Presupposition instance ((50), §5.2) #
An Index! candidate: an indexed alternative competes only when an index can be supplied by prior mention in discourse.
- isIndexed : Bool
- indexAvailable : Bool
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- Jenks2018.instReprIndexCandidate = { reprPrec := Jenks2018.instReprIndexCandidate.repr }
Index! strength: an indexed candidate gets strength 1 exactly when an index can actually be supplied, and bare candidates get 0.
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- Jenks2018.indexStrength c = if (c.isIndexed && c.indexAvailable) = true then 1 else 0
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Index! — "Represent and bind all possible indices" (50) — as the substrate's general Maximize Presupposition construction at strength 1.
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With a discourse antecedent available, the indexed candidate incurs strictly fewer Index! violations than the bare one.
The subject-position exception (§5.3) #
A topic-aware Index! candidate: bare anaphoric subjects mark continuing topics, while new (left-dislocated) topics prefer the demonstrative.
- isIndexed : Bool
- indexAvailable : Bool
- isTopic : Bool
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- Jenks2018.instReprTopicCandidate = { reprPrec := Jenks2018.instReprTopicCandidate.repr }
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Topic-overridden Index! strength: continuing-topic marking gives a bare candidate the same strength as an indexed one.
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- Jenks2018.topicAwareIndexStrength c = if c.isTopic = true then 1 else if (c.isIndexed && c.indexAvailable) = true then 1 else 0
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The topic-aware Index! constraint.
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A bare candidate marked as a continuing topic ties with the indexed alternative, restoring the free variation of matrix subjects.
Without topic marking the Index! preference stands.
The strict demonstrative under situation variation (§4.3) #
A demonstrative description's referent is fixed by the entity assignment at its index, so when the restrictor is situation-invariant at that entity the demonstrative cannot covary through the situation slot — the strict half of §4.3's contrast ((27)–(30): bare N covaries with a quantificational topic, the demonstrative forces the strict reading). The covarying half needs the property-typed index noted in the module docstring.