Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to describe the conventional meaning of a, the, any, and certain. The former are the definite determiners, the latter, arguably, the specific determiners. I derive the uses of these determiners as implicatures from a very simple conventional meaning: each indicates that the speaker regards a certain set of implications from her utterance as acceptable: those propositions derived by replacing the noun phrase in question with a referent, where the referent has been chosen by a choice function of a certain sort. In the case of definite noun phrases, the speaker would be satisfied by a choice function determined by the preferences of the hearer; in the case of indefinite noun phrases, she would not be satisfied. In the case of certain noun phrases, the speaker would be satisfied by a choice function determined by her own preferences; in the case of any, she would not be satisfied. With these two binary parameters of variation, whether the hearer or the speaker, whether satisfied or unsatisfied, we may define four choice-functional determiners. ;The implicatures which give rise to the acceptable implications are of a special sort: they are conversational implicatures in contexts where the assumption of cooperation has been suspended. Because all that is relevant in these cases is that the speaker is following her own self-interest, I call them rational implicatures. ;The primary purpose of this dissertation is to provide the semantics of a, the, any, and certain. Its value lies in its success in achieving this goal and in the explanatory devices that must be developed in order to achieve it: choice functions and rational implicature. It is further valuable in that this account explains why languages should contain expressions with meanings such as these. ;Structure of this dissertation: chapter 1, choice functions and rational implicatures; chapter 2, referential uses of the definite determiners; chapter 3, non-referential uses of the definite determiners; chapter 4, overview of specificity; chapter 5, certain; chapter 6, any; chapter 7, an exploration of further applications of choice functions and rational implicature in the analysis of linguistic phenomena