The Role of Adjectival Inflection in Scandinavian

ABSTRACT. Adjectives in definite Scandinavian DPs trigger an additional lexical determiner (double definiteness). In many cases, one of the determiners is obsolete, and in some of these cases, different readings are obtained. The presence or absence of weak adjectival inflection can also yield different readings, i.e. inflection interacts with interpretation. For Scandinavian DPs, I propose that the notion of definiteness is made up of three aspects: inclusiveness, reference, and identity and that these components are expressed by the preadjectival article, the suffixed article, and the adjectival inflection respectively. 1 Basic data (double) definiteness Standard Swedish, Norwegian, and Faroese very much pattern alike with regard to double definiteness: (1) a. bil-en car-the ‘the car’ b. den ny-a bil-e

On the structure of the Scandinavian DP

Adjectives in definite Scandinavian DPs trigger an additional lexical determiner (‘double definiteness’). In a number of cases, one of the determiners is obsolete, and in some of these cases, different readings are obtained. The following questions arise: what is the function of this doubling pattern of determiners? Is there a semantic correlate? And what does this tell us about the structure of the DP? The presence or absence of weak adjectival inflection can also yield different readings, i.e. inflection interacts with interpretation. In the following I will show that multiple exponence in Scandinavian DPs contributes to interpretation. Furthermore I suggest that the notion of definiteness in Scandinavian DPs is made up of three aspects: discourse reference, specific reference, and identity. These aspects are expressed by three distinct morphemes: the preadjectival article, the suffixed article, and the adjectival inflection respectively

Die Struktur der DP und deren Ausprägung im Skandinavischen

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate the structure of the DP and its reflex in Scandinavian. To this end I analysed the semantic contribution of the articles in Scandinavian modified definite DPs and their interaction with the adjectival inflection. I also considered other factors, such as the diachronic development of the respective morphemes. The DP structure put forth in this dissertation can account for the interaction of the functional morphemes involved in modified definite DPs as well as for the variation found regarding the marking of definiteness in the Scandinavian languages. In detail I claim that the notion of definiteness in Scandinavian is expressed by an interplay of three morphemes: the preadjectival article introduces a discourse referent that contains a new discourse variable; the suffixed article brings about specific reference; and the weak adjectival inflection identifies the members of the subset in the denotation of the modified noun.Diese Dissertation untersucht die interne Struktur der DP und deren Ausprägung im Skandinavischen. Dabei werden die bei der Definitheit beteiligten Morpheme und ihr semantischer Beitrag zum Konzept der Definitheit analysiert, deren Interaktion mit der Adjektivflexion untersucht und weitere Faktoren in die Analyse eingebunden, wie z.B. die diachrone Entwicklung der entsprechenden Morpheme. Die DP-Struktur, die in dieser Arbeit vorgeschlagen wird, kann dabei die Interaktion der beteiligten Morpheme in allen skandinavischen Sprachen erklären und darstellen – und damit auch, warum die skandinavischen Sprachen auf unterschiedliche Definitheitsmarkierungen zurückgreifen. Im Einzelnen gehe ich davon aus, dass Definitheit im Skandinavischen durch ein Zusammenspiel von drei Morphemen ausgedrückt wird: der freistehende Artikel führt einen Diskursreferenten ein, der suffigierte Artikel drückt spezifische Referenz aus und die schwache Adjektivflexion identifiziert die Untermenge in der Denotation des modifizierten Nomens

Natural history collections recapitulate 200 years of faunal change

Changing species assemblages represent major challenges to ecosystems around the world. Retracing these changes is limited by our knowledge of past biodiversity. Natural history collections represent archives of biodiversity and are therefore an unparalleled source to study biodiversity changes. In the present study, we tested the value of natural history collections for reconstructing changes in the abundance and presence of species over time. In total, we scrutinized 17 080 quality-checked records for 242 epibenthic invertebrate species from the North and Baltic Seas collected throughout the last 200 years. Our approaches identified eight previously reported species introductions, 10 range expansions, six of which are new to science, as well as the long-term decline of 51 marine invertebrate species. The cross-validation of our results with published accounts of endangered species and neozoa of the area confirmed the results for two of the approaches for 49 to 55% of the identified species, and contradicted our results for 9 to 10%. The results based on relative record trends were less validated. We conclude that, with the proper approaches, natural history collections are an unmatched resource for recovering early species introductions and declines