Determiner

Definition

Demonstratives and articles stand before nouns as determiners. (Suttles, 2004, p. 467)

Salish determiner systems lack definite determiners i.e., those which presuppose familiarity or uniqueness. The determiner which is appropriate for introducing a novel entity is also appropriate when referring to a familiar entity. (Davis & Matthewson, 2009, p. 1123)

In Skwxwu7mesh, determiners are marked for several features: case, gender, and deixis. (Jacobs, 2011, p. 89) Feminine determiners are only used for single female humans and animals, and not plural. (Jacobs, 2013, p. 3)

Examples

Example of the Determiner System in Skwxwú7mesh (from Gillon, 2009, p. 18)

Example of the Determiner System in Skwxwu7mesh (Jacobs, 2013, p. 3)

References

Davis, H., & Matthewson, L. (2009). Issues in Salish syntax and semantics. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3, 1097-1166.

Gillon, C. (2009). Deictic features: Evidence from Skwxwú7mesh. IJAL, 75(1), 1-27.

Jacobs, P. W. (2013). Subordinate clauses in Skwxwu7mesh: Their form and function. Northwest Journal of Linguistics, 7(2), 1-54.

Suttles, W. (2004). Musqueum reference grammar. UBC Press. SFU Student Access.*