This paper discusses the interpretation of complex noun phrases. More specifically, it investigates the type of object that a noun phrase 1 denotes. It has been recognized for some time that noun phrases must be able to denote individuals in some circumstances, events in other cases, propositions in still others (Zucchi 1993, Peterson 1997). I will show that, on the one hand, there are various ...

We examine critically some of the existing descriptions of the envelope of a 1-parameter family of surfaces in 3-space. An old, natural, description is that the envelope is the union of the characteristic curves (defined as the “limit intersection curves” of surfaces from the family). This description fell in disrepute during the 20th century. We claim that this relegation of the limit intersec...

Many of the world’s languages lack direct translations of definite articles in English, allowing bare nouns or other nominal expressions in definite contexts. Because articles are taken to head a DP projection in languages that have them (Abney 1987; Szabolcsi 1994), an attractive analysis of languages without definite articles is that they lack a DP projection, a perspective recently advocated...