Semantics of DP islands

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the role of the semantics of de nite articles in the analysis of e(xtended)NP-island effects. It brings in a new sort of evidence confirming the proposal of [25] for German and [6] for English that the semantics of the so called strong articles and demonstratives differs qualitatively from that of weak articles and the in that the former involves a pronominal element which makes corresponding eNPs directly referential. Islandhood for wh-subextraction thus emerges as a new diagnostic for direct referentiality.