English determiners

Words and phrases can be categorized by both their syntactic category and their syntactic function. In the clause the dog bit the man, for example, the dog belongs to the syntactic category of noun phrase and performs the syntactic function of subject. The distinction between category and function is at the heart of a terminological issue surrounding the word determiner: various grammars have used the word to describe a category, a function, or both. Some sources, such as A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, use determiner as a term for a category as defined above and determinative for the function that determiners and possessives typically perform in a noun phrase (see ). Others, such as The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (CGEL), make the opposite terminological choice.) use determiner for both the category and the function. This article uses determiner for the category and determinative for the function in the noun phrase. The lexical category determiner is the class of words described in this article. They head determiner phrases, which can realize the functions determinative, predeterminative, and modifier: • determiner phrases as determinatives: the box, this hill • determiner phrases as predeterminatives: all the time, both those cars • determiner phrases as modifiers: these two images, clear enough The syntactic function determinative is a function that specifies a noun phrase. That is, determinatives add abstract meanings to the noun phrase, such as definiteness, proximity, number, and the like. discussed the idea of "determination" of a noun: In Old English the possessive pronoun, or, as the French say, "pronominal adjective," expresses only the conception of belonging and possession; it is a real adjective, and does not convey, as at present, the idea of determination. If, therefore, Old English authors want to make nouns preceded by possessive pronouns determinative, they add the definite article. By 1924, Harold Palmer had proposed a part of speech called "Pronouns and Determinatives", effectively "group[ing] with the pronouns all determinative adjectives (e.g., article-like, demonstratives, possessives, numerals, etc.), [and] shortening the term to determinatives (the "déterminatifs" of the French grammarians)." Palmer separated this category from more prototypical adjectives (what he calls "qualificative adjectives") because, unlike prototypical adjectives, words in this category are not used predicatively, tend not to inflect for comparison, and tend not to be modified. Our limiting adjectives fall into two sub-classes of determiners and numeratives … The determiners are defined by the fact that certain types of noun expressions (such as house or big house) are always accompanied by a determiner (as, this house, a big house). Matthews argues that the next important contribution was by Ralph B. Long in 1961, though Matthews notes that Long's contribution is largely ignored in the bibliographies of later prominent grammars, including A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language and CGEL. Matthews illustrates Long's analysis with the noun phrase this boy: "this is no longer, in [Long's] account, an adjective. It is instead a pronoun, of a class he called ‘determinative’, and it has the function of a ‘determinative modifier’." though it is rejected in other perspectives. Chomsky also rejects it. == Determiners versus other lexical categories ==

Adjectives The main similarity between adjectives and determiners is that they can both appear immediately before nouns (e.g., many/happy people). The key difference between adjectives and determiners in English is that adjectives cannot function as determinatives. The determinative function is an element in NPs that is obligatory in most singular countable NPs and typically occurs before any modifiers (see ). For example, *I live in small house is ungrammatical because small house is a singular countable NP lacking a determinative. The adjective small is a modifier, not a determinative. In contrast, if the adjective is replaced or preceded by a possessive NP (I live in my house) or a determiner (I live in that house), then it becomes grammatical because possessive NPs and determiners function as determinatives. Pronouns Possessive pronouns such as my and your There is disagreement about whether possessive words such as my and your are determiners or not. For example, Collins COBUILD Grammar classifies them as determiners while CGEL classify them as pronouns'' The main reason for classifying these possessive words as determiners is that, like determiners, they usually function as determinative in an NP (e.g., my / the cat). Richard Hudson and Mariangela Spinillo also categorize these words as pronouns but without assuming an appositive relationship between the pronoun and the rest of the noun phrase. Adverbs There is disagreement about whether that is a determiner or a degree adverb in clauses like it is not that unusual. For example, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language categorizes this use of that as an adverb. This analysis is supported by the fact that other pre-head modifiers of adjectives that "intensify" their meaning tend to be adverbs, such as awfully in awfully sorry and too in too bright. This analysis can be supported by expanding the determiner phrase: it is not all that unusual. All can function as a premodifier of determiners (e.g., all that cake) but not adjectives (e.g., *all unusual), which leads Aarts to suggest that that is a determiner. Various quantificational expressions Expressions with similar quantification meanings such as a lot of, lots of, plenty of, a great deal of, tons of, etc. are sometimes said to be determiners, while other grammars argue that they are not words, or even phrases. The non-determiner analysis is that they consist of the first part of a noun phrase. For example, a lot of work is a noun phrase with lot as its head. It has a preposition phrase complement beginning with the preposition of. In this view, they could be considered lexical units, but they are not syntactic constituents. == The syntax of determiners and determiner phrases ==

''For the sake of this section, Abney's DP hypothesis (see ) is set aside. In other words, here a DP is taken to be a dependent in a noun phrase (NP) and not the other way around.'' Internal structure A determiner phrase (DP) is headed by a determiner and optionally takes dependents. DPs can take modifiers, which are usually adverb phrases (e.g., [almost no] people) or determiner phrases (e.g., [many more] people) . A noun phrase may have many modifiers, but only one determinative is possible. In most cases, a singular, countable, common noun requires a determinative to form a noun phrase; plurals and uncountables do not. The determinative is underlined in the following examples: • the box • not very many boxes • even the very best workmanship • ''my uncle's house'' (the determinative is an NP, not a DP) • what size shoes (the determinative is an NP, not a DP) The most common function of a DP is determinative in an NP. This is shown in the following syntax tree in the style of CGEL. It features two determiner phrases, all in predeterminer modifier function (see ), and the in determinative function (labeled Det:DP). Predeterminative If noun phrases can only contain one determinative, the following noun phrases present challenges: • all the time • both those cars The determiner phrase the functions as the determinative in all the time, and those functions as the determinative in both those cars. But all and both also have specifying roles rather than modifying roles in the noun phrase, much like the determinatives do. To account for noun phrases like these, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language also recognizes the function of predeterminative (or predeterminer). Some linguists and grammarians offer different accounts of these constructions. CGEL, for instance, classifies them as a kind of modifier in noun phrases. Predeterminatives are typically realized by determiner phrases (e.g., all in all the time). However, they can also be realized by noun phrases (e.g., one-fifth the size) and adverb phrases (e.g., thrice the rate). Modifier Determiner phrases can function as pre-head modifiers in noun phrases, such as the determiner phrase two in these two images. In this example, these functions as the determinative of the noun phrase, and two functions as a modifier of the head images. And they can function as pre-head modifiers in adjective phrases—[AdjP [DP the] more], [AdjP [DP the] merrier]—and adverb phrases—[AdvP [DP the] longer] this dish cooks, [AdvP [DP the] better] it tastes). Determiner phrases can also function as post-head modifiers in these phrases. For example, the determiners each, enough, less, and more can function as post-head modifiers of noun phrases, as in the determiner phrase each in two seats each. Enough can fill the same role in adjective phrases (e.g., clear enough) and in adverb phrases (e.g., funnily enough). DPs also function as modifiers in DPs (e.g., [not that many] people). Fusion of functions Determiners may bear two functions at one time. Usually this is a fusion of determinative and head in an NP where no head noun exists. In the clause many would disagree, the determiner many is the fused determinative-head in the NP that functions as the subject. In many grammars, both traditional and modern, and in almost all dictionaries, such words are considered to be pronouns rather than determiners. == Types of determiners ==

Several words can belong to the same part of speech but still differ from each other to various extents, with similar words forming subclasses of the part of speech. For example, the articles a and the have more in common with each other than with the demonstratives this or that, but both belong to the class of determiner and, thus, share more characteristics with each other than with words from other parts of speech. Article and demonstrative, then, can be considered subclasses or types of determiners. Morphological types Compound determiners Most determiners are very basic in their morphology, but some are compounds. The cardinal numbers greater than 99 are also compound determiners. Gradable determiners Although most determiners do not inflect, the following determiners participate in the system of grade. • the (definite) • a(n) (indefinite) Other articles have been posited, including unstressed some, a zero article (indefinite with mass and plural) and a null article (definite with singular proper nouns). Demonstrative determiners The two main demonstrative determiners are this and that. Their respective plural forms are these and those. They also add distributive meaning; that is, "they pick out the members of a set singly, rather than considering them in mass." Universal determiners The following are the universal determiners: • all • both Universal determiners convey universal quantification, meaning that they assert that no subset of a thing exists that lacks the property that is described. For example, saying "all the vegetables are ripe" is the same as saying "no vegetables are not ripe." The primary difference between all and both is that both applies only to sets with exactly two members while all lacks this limitation. But CGEL notes that because of the possibility of using both instead, all "generally strongly implicates 'more than two.'" Postdeterminers Cardinal numerals Cardinal numerals (zero, one, two, thirty-four, etc.) can represent any number. Therefore, the members of this subclass of determiner are infinite in quantity and cannot be listed in full. Cardinal numerals are typically thought to express the exact number of the things represented by the noun, but this exactness is through implicature rather than necessity. In the clause five people complained, for example, the number of people complaining is usually thought to be exactly five. But technically, the proposition would still be true if additional people were complaining as well: if seven people were complaining, then it is also necessarily true that five people were complaining. General norms of cooperative conversation, however, make it such that cardinal numerals typically express the exact number (e.g., five = no more and no less than five) unless otherwise modified (e.g., at least five or at most five). Positive paucal determiners The following are the positive paucal determiners: • a few • a little • certain • several • various The positive paucal determiners convey a small, imprecise quantity—generally characterized as greater than two but smaller than whatever quantity is considered large. When functioning as determinatives in a noun phrase, most paucal determiners select plural count nouns (e.g., a few mistakes), but a little selects non-count nouns (e.g., a little money). Degree determiners In grammars that consider them determiners rather than adjectives (see ), the degree determiners are the following: • few • little • many • much Degree determiners mark a noun phrase as indefinite. They also convey imprecise quantification, with many and much expressing a large quantity and few and little expressing a small quantity. Degree determiners are unusual in that they inflect for grade, a feature typical of adjectives and adverbs but not determiners. The comparative forms of few, little, many, and much are fewer, less, more, and more respectively. The superlative forms are fewest, least, most, and most respectively. The plain forms can be modified with adverbs, especially very, too and so (and not can also be added). Note that unmodified much is quite rarely used in affirmative statements in colloquial English. == Semantics ==

The main semantic contributions of determiners are quantification and definiteness. Quantification Many determiners express quantification. This accounts for cases of form-meaning mismatch, where a definite determiner results in an indefinite NP, such as the example I met this guy from Heidelberg on the train, where the underlined NP is grammatically definite but semantically indefinite. The majority of determiners, however, are indefinite. These include the indefinite article a, but also most quantifiers, including the cardinal numerals. == Pragmatics ==

Choosing the definite article over no article in a pair like the Americans and Americans can have the pragmatic effect of depicting "the group as a monolith of which the speaker is not a part." Relatedly, the choice between this and that may have an evaluative purpose, where this suggest a closeness, and therefore a more positive evaluation. == See also ==