This book investigates the properties of determiners in Skwxw???7mesh (Squamish) Salish.Determiners in Skwxw???7mesh are shown to behave significantly differently from the definite determiner the in English, as Skwxw???7mesh lacks a definite/indefiniteness distinction. All Skwxw???7mesh DPs can be used in both familiar and novel contexts, and are not required to refer to a unique entity. Instead, Skwxw???7mesh determiners are split along deictic/non-deicticlines.Determiners can therefore vary in terms of their semantics. ...
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This book investigates the properties of determiners in Skwxw???7mesh (Squamish) Salish.Determiners in Skwxw???7mesh are shown to behave significantly differently from the definite determiner the in English, as Skwxw???7mesh lacks a definite/indefiniteness distinction. All Skwxw???7mesh DPs can be used in both familiar and novel contexts, and are not required to refer to a unique entity. Instead, Skwxw???7mesh determiners are split along deictic/non-deicticlines.Determiners can therefore vary in terms of their semantics. However, determiners are argued to universally encode contextual sensitivity (domain restriction). A strict correlation between the syntax and semantics of determiners is proposed: if an article occupies D, it is context sensitive. Conversely, articles that do not occupy D are not context sensitive.This book also explores determiner systems in other Salish languages. Deixis is a part of most of the Salish determiner systems, but the systems vary quite a bit from one another. Other languages discussed include Inuttut (Labrador Inuktitut), Lithuanian and Maori.
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