Tag Archives: determiner

Determinant modifiers again

Let’s focus on the word class of determiner modifiers: they also include indefinite determiner modifiers. Indefinite determiners are thus: ‘tous les, aucun, aucune, quelques’ (all, none, none, some ; tutti i, nisciunu, nisciuna, calchì).
Here are some examples of these indefinite determiner modifiers: ‘presque tous les, quasi tous les, quasiment tous les, quasiment aucun, quasiment aucune, presque aucun, presque aucune, au moins quelques, au plus quelques, tout au plus quelques’ (almost all, almost all, almost all, almost none, almost none, at least some, at most some, at most some). Thus, ‘presque tous les’ (almost all; guasgi tutti i) in the sentence ‘presque tous les soldats’ (almost all the soldiers; guasgi tutti i suldati) is an indefinite determiner modifier.

Is a determiner a modifier?

In the present construction, the question arises of whether or not a determiner is a modifier. More specifically, is a definite or indefinite article (i.e. a determiner) a modifier of a noun. In the present model, an adjective is indeed a noun modifier. Is this not also the case for a definite article (the definite article ‘le’ (the), for example)? The answer is no. In fact, a modifier only modifies the meaning of the word to which it is applied. The consequence is that if the modifier is removed from the sentence in question, the sentence still conveys meaning and remains correctly formed. For example, in the sentence ‘le cheval blanc courait’ (the white horse was running), if we remove the noun modifier ‘blanc’ (white), the sentence ‘le cheval courait’ (the horse was running) remains correct. On the other hand, if we remove the determiner ‘le’ (the), we get the sentence ‘cheval blanc courait’ (white horse was running) which is incomplete and whose structure is not valid.