Abstract
With starting point in a discussion of the differences in distribution between, on the one hand, Bare Plural count nouns (BPs) and mass nouns, and, on the other, Bare Singular count nouns (BSs) in argument position, this paper shows that Danish BSs under certain conditions can serve as subjects in regular categorical sentences, i.e. outside special types of discourse such as proverbs, newspaper headlines, etc. However, contrary to BP- and mass noun-subjects, BSs in subject position are non-referential and do not imply existential presupposition. On these grounds, it is suggested that BS-subjects are, in fact, semantic objects which due to the lack of realisation of nominal functional categories act as property-denoting modifiers restricting the denotation of a covert predicate.
Original language | Danish |
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Journal | Ny forskning i grammatik |
Volume | 25 |
Pages (from-to) | 130-147 |
Number of pages | 18 |
ISSN | 1902-1291 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |