Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 695
they occur. An example like (43a) does not trigger a generic interpretation, since it
is highly improbable that a stage-level property like being in a cage is a property of
(the prototype of) the set of entities denoted by a noun like zebra ‘zebra’. Therefore,
this sentence must be interpreted as a proposition involving a specific entity in
domain D. An example like (43a′), which involves the individual-level predicate of
“being striped”, on the other hand, can be seen as a general statement about (the
prototype of) this set of entities. The noun phrase de zebra can therefore be given
both a generic and a referential interpretation. Note, however, that an example like
(43a′) is only ambiguous on paper. Leaving contrastive accent aside, the two
interpretations are distinguished by accent: on the referential reading of the noun
phrase, main accent is given to the adjective gestreept; on the generic reading, on
the other hand, main accent falls on the noun phrase (the noun zebra in this case). A
similar difference can be observed in (43b&b′).
(43) a. De zebra zit in een KOOI. [specific]
the zebra sits in a cage
a′. De ZEbra is gestreept. [generic]
the zebra is striped
b. De vrouw loopt op STRAAT. [specific]
the woman walks in the.street
b′. De VROUW is zachtmoedig van aard. [generic]
the woman is mild in nature
The discussion above does not imply that the generic interpretation of definite
noun phrases is completely determined by context. This becomes clear when we
consider some more examples. All primeless examples in (44) would be conceivable
as generic statements, which is clear from the fact that the primed examples,
which involve indefinite noun phrases, actually do have the intended meanings.
Nevertheless, these examples strongly favor a regular referential meaning, that is,
are preferably construed as a contention about a certain entity in domain D.
(44) a. # Het meisje is intelligent. a′. Meisjes zijn intelligent.
the girl is intelligent girls are intelligent
b. # Het boek is duur. b′. Boeken zijn duur.
the book is expensive books are expensive
c. # De braadpan is zwaar. c′. Braadpannen zijn zwaar.
the frying pan is heavy frying pans are heavy
The reason for the impossibility of the intended generic readings of the primeless
examples is not entirely clear. It might be the case that we are simply not inclined to
picture a prototypical member of the sets denoted by the nouns in (44). Whereas the
noun vrouw ‘woman’ or zebra easily evokes a prototype, nouns like meisje ‘girl’,
boek ‘book’ or braadpan ‘frying pan’ do not. Perhaps this suggestion can be
supported by the fact that a prototypical reading can be evoked provided that the
context provides sufficient clues that such a reading is intended. This is clear from
the fact that the examples in (45) do allow a generic reading, because the syntactic
context makes it probable that two prototypes are compared: in (45a) the
comparison involves a prototypical girl of a certain age and a prototypical boy of