Definiteness in Uralic

Smit, Merlijn de und Janda, Gwen Eva (2023): Definiteness in Uralic. In: Abondolo, Daniel und Valijärvi, Riitta-Liisa (eds.) : The Uralic Languages. London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor&Francis Group. pp. 979-1006

Abstract

This chapter is a study of definiteness in Uralic languages. It begins with a short overview of definiteness, seen in terms of the grammaticalization of identifiability, referentiality, and information structure, rather than in terms of a single grammatical category as expressed by specific lexical or morphological markers. The chapter then focuses on the grammatical devices that express definiteness and related concepts in the Uralic languages: constituent order, differential object marking, conjugation selection, and the use of definite articles or person suffixes are examined individually and in combination. Each point is illustrated with segmented, glossed, and translated examples from a wealth of languages and sources.

• Item Type: Book Section
• Faculties: Languages and Literatures > Department 2 > Finno-Ugric and Uralic Studies
• Subjects: 400 Language > 490 Other languages
• ISBN: 978-1-032-43656-2 ; 978-1-315-62509-6 ; 978-1-138-65084-8
• Place of Publication: London ; New York
• Language: English