What is definiteness?

Definition
	Definiteness is a category concerned with the grammaticalization of identifiability and nonidentifiability of referents on the part of a speaker or addressee.

Discussion
	Definiteness is frequently expressed by
	articles, or affixes having functions similar to articles.

Kinds
	Here are some kinds of definiteness:
	What is definite identifiability? What is a generic term? What is indefiniteness? What is nonspecificity? What is specificity?

Generic
	Definiteness is a kind of
	What is a grammatical category?

Context for this page:

Concept module: definiteness
In overview module: Glossary (Linguistics): D
In modular book: Glossary of linguistic terms, by Eugene E. Loos (general editor), Susan Anderson (editor), Dwight H., Day, Jr. (editor), Paul C. Jordan (editor), and J. Douglas Wingate (editor)
In bookshelf: Linguistics

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 5 January 2004

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