Definitesingular

Definitesingular is a term used in linguistics to describe a noun phrase that encodes both definiteness and singular number. It refers to a definite, uniquely identifiable referent that is treated as singular within the determiner phrase (DP) structure. The concept is often discussed in theories of determiner systems and how definiteness and number are expressed within noun phrases.

In English and many related languages, a canonical definitesingular NP is formed with a definite determiner and a singular noun, as in the phrase the dog. The determiner signals that the referent is a specific, identifiable entity, while the noun’s singular form marks number. Other languages realize the same category in different ways: French and Spanish use definite articles like le chien or el perro; German uses das Buch. In languages without a dedicated definite article, definiteness and singularity may be indicated by demonstratives, case marking, or noun-incorporated markers. Turkish, for example, marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun (-i) in combination with a singular form, producing a definitesingular interpretation without a separate definite article.

Typological and theoretical work on definitesingular focuses on how languages encode referent specificity together with number, how this interacts with an agreement system, and how DP structure varies across languages. The term is not universally standardized; some grammars simply describe such noun phrases as definite NPs with singular number, while others use the label definitesingular to emphasize the joint encoding of definiteness and singularity.