On 29 Sep 2014 01:33, "Jorge Llambías" <jjllambias@gmail.com> wrote:
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> On Sun, Sep 28, 2014 at 12:33 PM, And Rosta <and.rosta@gmail.com> wrote:
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>> I don't know what having "nonspecific referents" is. If a specific referent is one underdetermined by the description, is a nonspecific one one that is fully determined by the description, e.g. a generic?
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> Nice. Is "underdetermined by the description" a common definition or test for specificity?
It's the definition I would offer, but I arrive at it from my own lucubration rather than from the literature, which I'm simply unfamiliar with. Ironically (what with the long-standing involvement with Lojban) I don't know much about logical semantics; syntax and phonology are more my thing.
> I'm not sure it excludes generics though. In:
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> "Certain things are better left unsaid."
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> would you agree that "certain things" is +specific and +generic?
I think it depends on your definition of genericity. Certainly your example can be paraphrased as "certain kinds of thing", which would make a good criterion for genericity. But anyway, I'd meant not to say that specificity is incompatible with genericity but rather only that generics provide good examples of referents fully determined by the description, as in "Tuesday is the day after Monday".
--And.