Cover not available

Article published In: Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages
Vol. 35:1 (2020) ► pp.1–36

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

A description of bare noun phrases in Reunion Creole

 | Aix-Marseille University, France
Published online: 13 May 2020
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jpcl.00046.alb
Abstract
This paper discusses the general distribution and interpretation of bare noun phrases (BNPs) in Reunion Creole (RC). To set the required background for this description, it also discusses the count-mass distinction and offers an insight into the determiner system since elements such as prenominal lo and postnominal -la have received rather divergent designations and analyses in the literature. Observations rely on oral data and felicity judgments.
We show that RC BNPs can occupy the same positions as noun phrases (NPs) modified by a determiner and that they can be left-dislocated, clefted and topicalized. We provide evidence that, except for some specific contexts, monosyllabic BNPs are not licensed and that the form lo is mandatory to build a grammatical NP out of nouns formed by a unique light syllable.
We also demonstrate that, in these cases, lo is actually a semantically empty element. BNPs are number-neutral; we argue that existential BNPs are pseudo-incorporated in some cases but that they always have weak reference. BNPs can receive generic and kind readings, as well as an existential and a certain definite interpretation: they are weak definites, i.e. they are semantically, never pragmatically definite (following Löbner, Sebastian. 1985. Definites. Journal of semantics 4 (4). 279–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1998. Definite associative anaphora. In S. Botley (eds.), Approaches to discourse anaphora: proceedings of DAARC96 – Discourse anaphora and Resolution Colloquium. Lancaster: Lancaster University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2011. Concept types and determination. Journal of Semantics 28 (3). 279–333. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2015. Functional concepts and frames. In Gamerschlag & all., Meaning, frames, and conceptual representation, 15–42. Düsseldorf: dup.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar).
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Data
  • 2.The RC determiner system
    • 2.1Number and the count-mass distinction
    • 2.2Determiners
    • 2.3The case of prenominal lo
  • 3.Distribution of BNPs
    • 3.1General distribution
    • 3.2Potential restrictions
    • 3.3Monosyllabic nouns
    • 3.4Correlations with other parts of the system
  • 4.Semantic properties of BNPs
    • 4.1Number
    • 4.2Existential BNPs and weak reference
    • 4.3Weak and strong definites
  • 5.Summary and conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (59)
References
Aboh, Enoch O. & Smith, Norval. 2009. Simplicity, simplification, complexity and complexification: where have the interfaces gone? In Aboh, Enoch, Smith, Norval (eds.), Complex processes in new languages, 1–25. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aboh, Enoch O. & DeGraff, Michel. 2014. Some notes on bare noun phrases in Haitian Creole and in Gungbe: a transatlantic sprachbund perspective. In Åfarli Tor Anders & Mæhlum, Brit (eds.), The sociolinguistics of grammar, 203–236. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Aboh, Enoch O. 2015. The emergence of hybrid grammars: contact, change and creation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2016. Creole distinctiveness: a dead end. Journal of Pidgin and Creole Languages 311. 400–418. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Albers, Ulrike. 2019. Le syntagme nominal en créole réunionnais : forme et interprétation. Marseille: Aix-Marseille UniversityGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Allan, Keith. 1980. Nouns and countability. Language 561. 541–567. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Alleesaib, Muhsina. 2012. Le groupe nominal en créole mauricien : études syntaxiques. Saint-Denis: Université de Paris VIII.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Armand, Alain. 2014. Dictionnaire kréol / français Dictionnaire kréol rénioné français. Saint-Denis: Epica.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyssade, Claire. 2011. Bare nouns in predicate position in French. In Pogodalla, Sylvain; Quatrini, Myriam & Rétoré Christian (eds.), Logic and grammar: essays dedicated to Alain Lecomte on the occasion of his 60th birthday, 1–16. Berlin: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013. Back to uniqueness presupposition. Recherches Linguistiques de Vincennes 421. 123–139 [URL] (16 March, 2018).
Bollée, Annegret. 2013a. Reunion Creole. In Michaelis, Susanne; Maurer, Philippe; Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds.), The survey of pidgin and creole languages. Vol. II: Portuguese-based, Spanish-based and French-based languages, 241–249. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2013b. Reunion Creole structure dataset. In Michaelis, Susanne; Maurer, Philippe & Haspelmath, Martin & Huber, Magnus (eds.), Atlas of pidgin and creole language structures online. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, [URL] (16 March, 2018).
Borik, Olga & Gehrke, Berit. 2015. An introduction to the syntax and semantics of pseudo-incorporation. In Borik, Olga & Gehrke, Berit. The syntax and semantics of pseudo-incorporation, 1–43. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Borthen, Kaja. 2003. Norwegian bare singulars. Oslo: Norvegian University of Science and Technology.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bouchard, Denis. 2003. Les SN sans déterminant en français et en anglais. In Miller, Philip H. & Zribi-Hertz, Anne, Essais sur la grammaire comparée du français et de l’anglais, 55–95. Saint-Denis: Presses Universitaires de Vincennes.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlson, Gregory N. 1977. A unified analysis of the English bare plural. Linguistics and Philosophy 11. 413–457. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Carlson, Greg & Sussman, Rachel. 2005. Seemingly indefinite definites. In Kepsar, Stephan & Reis, Marga (eds.), Linguistic evidence: empirical, theoretical, and computational perspectives, 26–30. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cellier, Pierre. 1985. Description syntaxique du créole réunionnais : Essai de standardisation. Lille: ANRT Lille 3.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chaudenson, Robert. 1974. Le Lexique du parler créole de La Réunion. Saint-Denis: H. Champion.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Bare nouns in Réunionnais Creole. In Baptista, Marlyse & Guéron, Jacqueline (eds.), Noun phrases in creole languages: a multi-faceted approach, 226–242. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chierchia, Gennaro. 1998. Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics 6 (4). 339–400. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Christophersen, Paul. 1939. The articles: a study of their theory and use in English. Copenhagen: Munksgaard.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corbett, Greville. 2000. Number. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Déprez, Viviane. 1999. De la nature sémantique des nominaux sans déterminant en créole haïtien. Langues 2 (4). 289–300.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Morphological number, semantic number and bare nouns. Lingua 115 (6). 857–883. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2006. On the conceptual role of number. In Nishida Chiyo & J. P. Montreuil (eds), New perspectives on romance languages, 61–85. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2007. Implicit determination and plural. In Baptista, Marlyse & Guéron, Jacqueline (eds.), Noun phrases in creole languages: a multi-faceted approach, 301–336. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert & Aikhenvald, Alexandra (eds.). 2003. Word: A cross-linguistic typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dobrovie-Sorin, Carmen & Laca, Brenda. 2003. Les noms sans déterminant dans les langues romanes. In Godard, Danièle (eds.), Les Langues romanes. Problèmes de la phrase simple, 235–281. Paris: CNRS Editions.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Donnellan, Keith S. 1966. Reference and definite descriptions. The Philosophical Review 75 (3). 281–304. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ebert, Karen H. 1970. Referenz, Sprechsituation und die bestimmten Artikel in einem nordfriesischen Dialekt. Bräist/Bredstedt: Nordfriisk Instituut.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Espinal, M. Teresa & McNally, Louise. 2011. Bare nominals and incorporating verbs in Spanish and Catalan. Journal of Linguistics 47 (1). 87–128. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Greenberg, Joseph H. 1978. How does a language acquire gender markers? In Ferguson, Charles A. & all. (eds.), Universals of Human Language 3: Word Structure, 47–82. Stanford University Press, Stanford.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grice, H. Paul. 1975. Logic and conversation. In Cole, Peter & Morgan, Jerry (eds.), Syntax and Semantics 3: Speech acts, 41–58. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2011. The gradual coalescence into ‘words’ in grammaticalization. In Narrog, Heiko, & Heine, Bernd (eds.), The Oxford handbook of grammaticalization, 342–355. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heim, Irene. 1982. The semantics of definite and indefinite noun phrases. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. 2001. Articles. In Haspelmath, Martin & all. (eds.), Language typology and language universals: An international handbook 201, 831–841. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ileana, Paul. 2009. On the presence versus absence of determiners in Malagasy. In Jila Ghomeshi, Ileana Paul & Martina Wiltschko (eds.), Determiners: Universals and variation, 215–242. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ionin, Tania. 2006. This is definitely specific: specificity and definiteness in article systems. Natural language semantics 14 (2). 175–234. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jackendoff, Ray. 1991. Parts and boundaries. Cognition 41 (1). 9–45. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jean-Louis, Loïc & Zribi-Hertz, Anne. 2014. From noun to name: definiteness marking in modern Martinikè. In Cabredo Hofherr, Patricia & Zribi-Hertz, Anne (eds.), Crosslinguistic studies on noun phrase structure and reference, 269–315. Boston: Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Löbner, Sebastian. 1985. Definites. Journal of semantics 4 (4). 279–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1998. Definite associative anaphora. In S. Botley (eds.), Approaches to discourse anaphora: proceedings of DAARC96 – Discourse anaphora and Resolution Colloquium. Lancaster: Lancaster University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2011. Concept types and determination. Journal of Semantics 28 (3). 279–333. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2015. Functional concepts and frames. In Gamerschlag & all., Meaning, frames, and conceptual representation, 15–42. Düsseldorf: dup.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lyons, Christopher. 1999. Definiteness. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paul, Moles; Zribi-Hertz, Anne & Glaude, Herby (in press). Countability and number in a language without number inflection: evidence from Haitian Creole. In Cabredo Hofherr, Patricia & Doetjes, Jenny, Handbook of grammatical number. New York: Oxford University Press.
Pelletier, Francis J. 1979. Non-singular reference: Some Preliminaries. In Pelletier, Francis J. (eds.), Mass terms: some philosophical problems, 1–14. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey & Svartvik, Jan. 1985. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London: Longman.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russell, Bertrand. 1905. On denoting, Mind 56 (14). 479–493. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schwarz, Florian. 2013. Two kinds of definites cross-linguistically. Language and Linguistics Compass 10 (7). 534–559. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Staudacher-Valliamée, Gillette. 2004. Grammaire du créole réunionnais. Saint-Denis: SEDES – Université de La Réunion.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Trommer, Jochen. 2008. Case suffixes, postpositions and the phonological word in Hungarian. Linguistics 461. 403–438. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Véronique, Georges Daniel. 2002. Spécificités du syntagme nominal dans les créoles atlantiques. Faits de Langues 201. 207–17.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Villoing, Florence. 2012. Contraintes de taille dans les mots composés : quand la phonologie entre en concurrence avec les contraintes morphologiques. In Neveu, Frank & all. (eds.), Actes du 3ème congrès mondial de linguistique française, 1425–1440. Paris: EDP Sciences.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watbled, Jean-Philippe. 2015. Les particularités morphosyntaxiques du créole réunionnais. Etudes Créoles 33 (2). 111–125.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wespel, Johannes. 2008. Descriptions and their domains : the patterns of definiteness marking in French-related creoles. Stuttgart: Universität Stuttgart.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wiesinger, Evelyn. 2017. Nom sans déterminant vs. roun/oun/n N. Une étude de cas en créole guyanais. In Prescod, Paula (eds.), Approches plurielles du nom sans déterminant. Distributions, interprétations, fonctions, 229–250. Frankfurt: Lang.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Albers, Ulrike
2024. A three-way distinction in definiteness: sortal, individual, and functional concepts in Réyoné. Linguistics 62:5 ► pp. 1185 ff. DOI logo
Albers, Ulrike
2024. What’s specific about bann ? Le lien entre « spécificité » et interprétation exclusive. Études créoles 41 | 1-2 DOI logo
Albers, Ulrike
2025. Cognates of French articles in contemporary Reunion Creole. In New Perspectives on Mauritian Creole and Reunion Creole [Contact Language Library, 61], ► pp. 18 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue