Generic reference nominal constructions: a cognitive grammar experimental approach

Abstract

From the perspective of Cognitive Grammar (LANGACKER, 1987; 1991), this work investigates the semantic pole of two nominal constructions of generic reference in Brazilian Portuguese: [Article + Singular Noun] (“The cat is willful”) and [Ø + Singular Noun] (“Cat is willful”). It is proposed that, despite their extensional similarity, these constructions are not semantically equivalent. Specifically, it is argued that the pattern with definite article, but not the one that lacks it, grants the conceptualization of a collection of unprofiled types within a Type Space. In order to verify this hypothesis, an acceptability judgement experiment was carried out in which the participants were asked to evaluate the naturalness of sentences containing singular generic NPs, with and without the definite article, in contrastive contexts. The results showed a significant difference of acceptability between these two conditions (p = 0,0014), which provides evidence in favor of the hypothesis that the constructional patterns investigated actually evoke different mental representations.