The (in)definite inferences of accusative andgenitive in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian

Abstract

There is an ongoing discussion in the literature on how (if at all) the definiteness is conveyed in languages which lack the (in)definite article system. One proposal is that in Slavic languages the (in)definite interpretation can be conveyed by case markers (e.g. Kagan, 2007; Khrizman, 2014; Borschev et al, 2008). In particular, the observation was that in the case of accusative/genitive alternation, while accusative is associated with the definite interpretation, the genitive case is associated with the indefinite interpretation. We tested this observation in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian. The results of our research show that whereas accusative conveys the familiarity of the discourse referent and the quantity of stuff denoted by the NP, the genitive case conveys their unfamiliarity. We argue that the inferences of genitive arise at the presuppositonal level and that the inferences of accusative are derived as anti-presuppositions.