Names and Grammar

Abstract

This chapter provides a definition of names and a discussion of how the semantic-pragmatic properties of names determine their grammatical characteristics in a number of European and African languages. We argue that names are definite nouns with unique denotation that display an inherent basic level sense. The approach developed in this chapter aims at being universally valid in two ways. First, the pragmatic-semantic concept of names is cross-linguistically applicable. It is distinct from language-specific grammatical categories of Proper Names, for which language-specific grammatical criteria should be adduced. Second, our approach takes into account all types of names. We point out a cline of nameworthiness that is grammatically relevant.

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