Nouns and Noun Phrases - University of Macau Library

Determiners: articles and pronouns 707
we are dealing with an individual-level predicate like bestaan uit koolstof en
waterstof ‘to consist of carbon and hydrogen’ in (77b).
(77) a. De/ ? ∅ benzine is weer duur dit jaar.
the/∅ petrol is again expensive this year
‘The petrol is again expensive this year.’
b. ∅/*De benzine bestaat uit koolstof en waterstof.
∅/the petrol consists of carbon and hydrogen
An apparent counterexample to the claim that the nature of the predicate determines
whether a definite article can be realized can be found in (78) which involve the
individual-level predicate bestaan uit waterstof en zuurstof: the fact that using a
definite article is blocked in (78a) is compatible with the proposed restriction;
however, when a restrictive modifier like the PP op Mars ‘on Mars’ is added to the
generic noun phrase, as in (78b), using a definite article suddenly becomes possible.
(78) a. ∅/*Het water bestaat uit waterstof en zuurstof.
∅/the water consists of hydrogen and oxygen
b. Het/∅ water op Mars bestaat ook uit waterstof en zuurstof.
the/∅ water on Mars consists also of hydrogen and oxygen
We may account for this problem by assuming that, much as in the case of (50b),
the semantic effect of the addition of the modifier in (78b) is the creation of a
subset/subtype of water; while water on its own defines “water” exhaustively and
does not leave any subset/subtype for the definite determiner to pick out, water op
Mars denotes a subtype of water found on the planet of Mars, which is not
coextensive with the substance of water in general. This makes it possible for the
definite determiner to be felicitously used in (78b).
From the discussion above, we conclude that, apart from those cases where the
addition of a modifier introduces a distinction between various subsets/subtypes, the
definite article cannot be used when the predicate expresses an individual-level
property. This conclusion seems to be supported by the examples in (79), which
involve abstract non-count nouns.
(79) a. ∅/*De gezelligheid kent geen tijd.
∅/the coziness knows no time
‘Being sociable is always appropriate.’
b. ∅/*De verliefdheid is een alles overspoelend gevoel.
∅/the infatuation is an everything overflowing sensation
‘Infatuation is a sensation that dominates everything.’
The infinitival nominals in (80) exhibit a pattern which is also similar yet subtly
distinct from the one found in the substance noun examples in (78); cf. Hoekstra &
Wehrmann (1985). Example (80a) shows again that individual-level predicates do
not license the presence of a definite article: when the definite article is present, the
noun phrase refers to a specific dancing event. The examples in (80b&c) show that
adding a postnominal PP to the nominalization makes it possible to have a definite
article due to the fact that we now dealing with various subtypes of dancing.