Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 699
D. Generic definite noun phrases embedded in other noun phrases
So far, we have only discussed generic definite noun phrases in clauses. As is shown
in (54a), definite noun phrases can also obtain a generic reading when embedded in
a larger noun phrase. The difference between (54a) and (54b) suggests that in this
case the context also determines whether a generic reading is possible or not.
(54) a. [de rechten van [de vrouw]]
the rights of the woman
a ‘the woman’s rights’ [specific]
a ‘women’s rights’ [generic]
b. [de vrienden van [de vrouw]]
the friends of the woman
a ‘the woman’s friends’ [specific]
* ‘women’s friends’ [generic]
Note that example (54a) is genuinely ambiguous only on paper; when pronounced
in a neutral context, the generic reading will give rise to main stress on vrouw,
while the specific reading assigns main prosodic prominence to rechten. This is
shown in (55), where the verbal predicate blocks a generic reading of de vrouw in
(55a), but strongly favors it in (55b).
(55) a. De RECHten van de vrouw werden haar allemaal ontnomen.
the rights of the woman were her all taken.away
‘The rightrs of the woman (e.g. Marie) were all taken away from her.’
b. De rechten van de VROUW worden nog niet universeel erkend.
the rights of the woman are yet not universally recognized
‘Women’s rights are not yet universally recognized.’
The contrast between the examples in (54a) and (56) shows again that definite
plural noun phrases are normally not assigned a generic reading.
(56) [de rechten van [de vrouwen]]
the rights of the women
a ‘the women’s rights’ [specific]
* ‘women’s rights’ [generic]
III. Indefinite articles
The examples in (37b&c) have shown that indefinite noun phrases can also be used
generically. They differ from definite noun phrases in that they do not refer to a
prototypical member of the set denoted by the noun. When the indefinite noun
phrase is singular it refers to a typical member, and when it is plural it refers to
typical members of the set denoted by the noun. In a sense, indefinite generic noun
phrases “quantify” over the individuals in the set denoted by the noun; they express
a categorical statement of the type “all N ...”. This is clear from the fact that these
noun phrases can be modified by adverbial phrases like in het algemeen ‘in
general’, meestal ‘generally’ or zelden ‘rarely’, which may modify their “universal”
interpretation. This was discussed already on the basis of the examples in (41) and
(42). Here, we repeat examples (42b&c) as (57), which must be given the
interpretation “most rats are intelligent”.