Why English exhibits determiner-possessor complementarity and Slovene doesn't

english

2004

volume 1, issue 1/2

Univerza v Ljubljani, Filozofska fakulteta, Znanstvena založba
(Obvezni izvod spletne publikacije)

The aim of the paper is to provide an explanation for the following diff erence between English and Slovene: whereas in English a definite determiner and a possessor are in complementary distribution, in Slovene the two categories are perfectly compatible. Arguing that the traditional approach to determiner-possessor complementarity is inadequate, the paper proposes an explanation that has been developed within the framework of generative grammar: languages exhibiting determiner-possessor complementarity are characterized by the presence of the ! def feature on the functional head Pos. The generative approach also shows that (with the definite article and a demonstrative occupying different structural positions) determiner-possessor complementarity is in fact twofold, comprising (i) article-possessor complementarity and (ii) demonstrative-possessor complementarity.

11.03.2021