MääreMaantieteellisen

MääreMaantieteellinen is a theoretical construct in linguistics that describes how geographic information is encoded within determiner-like elements of noun phrases. The term combines the Finnish words määre, meaning determiner, and maantieteellinen, meaning geographical, to denote a study of how location and spatial scope influence reference and definiteness in language.

The concept analyzes how languages express geographic reference through determiners, demonstratives, adjectives, and postnominal particles, and how such markings interact with discourse, anaphora, and context. Geographical reference can be absolute (a specific region), relative (this or that area), or deictic (here, there), and different languages employ a variety of strategies to mark these distinctions. Some languages have explicit geodeterminants or geolocational morphemes, while others rely on context and proper names.

Typologically, MääreMaantieteellinen covers a range of systems, from languages with article-like elements that encode regional scope to those that use spatial pronouns or case marking to signal geographic reference. Methodologically, work in this area often combines cross-linguistic surveys, corpus analysis, field studies, and experimental pragmatics to understand how geographic information influences interpretation and discourse organization.

Examples of interest include English phrases like the northern provinces or coastal cities, which combine regionals with a definite or demonstrative center; and languages lacking definite articles that still convey geographic reference through demonstratives or nominal modifiers. The framework is primarily used in theoretical discussions and has not become a universally adopted standard, existing as a useful lens for examining the intersection of geography and determiner semantics. See also geographical deixis and definiteness in linguistics.