From: Jonathan Robie (jonathan@texcel.no)
Date: Fri Jan 02 1998 - 14:10:20 EST
At 01:48 PM 1/2/98 EST, Paul S. Dixon wrote:
>Yes, this would be an interesting study. Has anybody done anything in
>this area? And, what exactly is the accepted rule that is being
>challenged here? That count nouns can denote definiteness and
>qualitativeness simultaneously? Is this an established rule? Whence
>cometh it? For some reason (hermeneutical presupposition?)
First off, I'm not sure that there is a good definition of an "established
rule" in Greek grammar, nor that any two of the shelf full of grammars I
have are presenting the same model. I'm also not convinced that putting
somebody's name on a rule and calling it official makes that rule any more
true. So if we drop the "accepted rule" question, and confine ourselves
merely to the question of whether it is true...the question is this:
"Can nouns denote definiteness and qualitativeness simultaneously?"
You suggest that they can't, because:
>I have always
>believed that words mean one thing and one thing only in any given
>context, except for intended double meanings which are relatively rare.
Certainly a given noun can be both definite and plural, and words can also
have multiple semantic attributes, e.g. a horse can simultaneously be
[+mammal] [+pet] [+big]. It is quite possible to imagine a model where
definiteness and qualitativeness are two different attributes associated
with nouns.
>I assume you balk at the definitions of definiteness, indefiniteness and
>qualitativeness as cited by Jonathan from the Gramcord Institute whereby
>the idea of stress is key. Do you deny that nouns stress either
>definiteness, indefiniteness or qualitativeness, but not two or more
>equally? That is the issue, I believe.
In terms of feature analysis, it is hard to imagine that something could
simultaneously be [+definite] and [-definite], but it is certainly
conceivable to have, e.g., [+definite][+qualitative] or
[+definite][-qualitative].
In order to answer that, of course, we'll have to agree on definitions and
tests for both definiteness and qualitativeness..
Jonathan
jonathan@texcel.no
Texcel Research
http://www.texcel.no
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