specificitydefiniteness

Specificitydefiniteness refers to the study of how two related semantic properties of noun phrases interact in language: specificity and definiteness. Specificity concerns whether a noun phrase points to a particular referent within the speaker’s knowledge or the discourse context, as opposed to a non-specific member of a class. Definiteness concerns whether the referent is identifiable by the listener in the current discourse, often encoded by articles, demonstratives, or other determinals that signal shared knowledge or uniqueness.

In many languages these properties align, so definite expressions tend to be specific, and indefinite expressions tend to be non-specific. However, they can diverge. A definite noun phrase may not refer to a uniquely identifiable individual in every context, producing a non-specific definite reading. Conversely, an indefinite noun phrase may be used with a specific intention, referring to a particular entity the speaker has in mind.

Cross-linguistic variation is central to the topic. Some languages encode definiteness overtly with articles or morphological marks, while others rely on demonstratives or word order. Specificity is often tested through context, question formation, or focus structure, and may depend on whether the referent is known to both speaker and listener, whether it is uniquely identifiable, or whether it is merely selective within a set.

The topic intersects semantics, pragmatics, and information structure, contributing to analyses of how listeners interpret referents and how languages encode speaker intention. It also informs practical areas such as language description, teaching, and natural language processing.