Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 687
B. Semantically implied entities
Anyone hearing the sentence in (22) will conclude that the noun phrase de kleertjes
‘the clothes’ refers to the clothes of the baby. This is due to the fact that the verb
aankleden ‘to dress’ can be paraphrased as “putting clothes on someone”. The fact
that the clothes of the baby are semantically implied by the description of the event
in the first conjunct apparently makes it unnecessary to introduce the clothes of the
baby by means of an indefinite noun phrase.
(22) Jan wou de baby aankleden, maar de kleertjes waren nog nat.
Jan wanted the baby prt.-dress but the clothes were still wet
‘Jan wanted to dress the baby, but the clothes were still wet.’
C. Inferable entities
Appealing to the meaning of the verb aankleden does not account for the fact that
the noun phrase de kleertjes in (22) can be replaced by the noun phrase de luiers
‘the diapers’, as in (23). After all, the verb aankleden ‘to dress’ cannot be
paraphrased as “putting diapers on someone”.
(23) Jan wou de baby aankleden, maar de luiers waren nog nat.
Jan wanted the baby prt.-dress but the diapers were still wet
‘Jan wanted to dress the baby, but the diapers were still wet.’
The fact that the definite article is acceptable in the second conjunct shows that
language users have richly structured schemata of certain events at their disposal. A
language user knows that babies generally wear diapers and, as a result, the event of
dressing a baby typically evokes the idea of diapers, which therefore need not be
introduced by an indefinite noun phrase. These structured schemata are available
not only for events but also for entities. Speakers know that a wedding involves a
bride and a bridegroom, best man, a priest or a civil servant, etc. Therefore these
entities need not be introduced by means of an indefinite noun phrase, but can be
referred to directly by means of a definite noun phrase, as in (24a). Similarly, for
many people the mere mention of a house is sufficient to evoke a picture of a
building with a garden, a front door, a chimney, etc., and as is shown in (24b) these
entities can be immediately referred to by means of a definite noun phrase.
(24) a. Ik was daarnet bij een huwelijk. De bruid was gekleed in een lange witte jurk.
I was just now at a wedding the bride was dressed in a long white dress
b. Ik heb een huis in Tilburg gekocht. De tuin is heel groot.
I have a house in Tilburg bought the garden is very big
‘I bought a house in Tilburg. The garden is very big.’
The acceptability of examples like (23) and (24) is, of course, due to the fact that
parts of the speaker’s and listener’s conceptions of reality are culturally determined,
and therefore have sufficient overlap to invoke the desired inferences in these
examples.