http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73437 Tue, 12 May 2026 07:56:24 GMT 2026-05-12T07:56:24Z https://publikationen.uni-tuebingen.de:443/xmlui/bitstream/id/49c15ad0-e832-41a0-bc9c-fd241e5fdcd9/ http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73437 http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73963 Definiteness Marking on VPs/ TPs in Ga and Ngamo Grubic, Mira; Renans, Agata There is a growing body of cross-linguistic evidence that languages can mark events as definite (e.g. Baker and Travis, 1997, Iatridou, 2014, Larson, 2003, Hole, 2011, Onea, 2011). We contribute to this discussion by presenting original data from Ga (Kwa) and Ngamo (West-Chadic). Although both languages exhibit overt definiteness marking on VPs/TPs which is, at first glance, very similar, we argue that whereas Ngamo marks the topic situation, the situation that the utterance is about, as definite, Ga marks the event indicated by the verb as definite. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73963 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73959 The Somali Microscope: Personal Pronouns, Determiners and Possession Özyıldız, Deniz; Ivan, Rodica This paper describes aspects of the morpho-syntax and the semantics of lexical nouns, pronouns, and possessives in Somali, with a focus on the expression of (in)definiteness. Novel data supports the claim that nominals marked with morphemes -KA and -KII, thought to be overt definite determiners, indeed pattern like definite descriptions. The core contribution is that there are nominals that do not bear -KA or -KII, which are interpreted as definites. Therefore, a phonologically null, definiteness encoding device must be available in Somali, either alongside, or instead of the morphemes -KA and -KII. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73959 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73958 Free Choice Relatives in Telugu Balusu, Rahul In English (and Hindi, with JO-BHII) an -EVER free relative (FR) can have one of three interpretations – ignorance, indifference, and quantificational. In Telugu, each of them is expressed through a separate construction, – the ignorance reading via a disjunctive particle and 'but' correlative, the indifference reading via a conditional correlative, and the quantificational reading via a concessive conditional free relative. Whereas theoretical analyses have tried to unify the various readings in English, or subsume one under the other, the theoretical challenge in Telugu is to explain how and why each reading is associated with a different structure and derive the semantic mechanism based on the morphosyntax of the structure that it is associated with, besides explaining how the modal implications and quantificational force come about in each of these non-modal, non-quantifier contexts. In this paper, we attempt to derive each of the readings building on the morphosyntax of the constructions involved – a Hamblin interrogative composing with a conditional modal semantics for the indifference reading, a trio of possibilities based on the semantics of the morphemes involved in the ignorance construction, and the quantificational reading as dependent definites licensed by a quantificational operator ranging over situation variables. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73958 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73945 Indefinites in Daakaka (Vanuatu) von Prince, Kilu There are two indefinite articles in the Oceanic language Daakaka, TUSWA and SWA. Like weak NPIs or unspecific indefinites in many other languages, TUSWA is excluded from positive assertions about the episodic past or present. In this paper, I try to locate them within the cross-linguistic space of indefinites and NPIs and sketch out an approach to account for their differences. Sun, 01 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/10900/73945 2017-01-01T00:00:00Z