298 GlossaryCoordinator. A smalllexeme category (part of speech) whose members serve to
mark one element as coordinate with another: Kim and Pat; today or tomorrow;
poor but happy.
Correlative coordination. Coordination with the first coordinate marked by a
determinative (both, either, or neither): Both Sue and her husband went; It's
neither illegal nor unethical.
Count noun. Noun denoting an entity that is countable; hence a noun that can com
bine with numerals: two cats, a hundred times.
Declarative clause. The default clause type; in main clauses, characteristically
used to make a statement: The dog is barking; She can swim.
Default. What holds if nothing special is stated. The default position of the subject
of a clause is before the verb, though where the verb is an auxiliary, it may,
under restricted conditions, follow the verb.
Definite article. The determinative the. Prototypically functions as determiner in
NP structure with the sole meaning of indicating that the head is sufficient in the
context to identify the referent: when I ask, Where's the car?, I assume you know
which car I'm referring to.
Definite NP. NP marked by the definite article the or by certain other determiners
(e.g., this, that, my), or with no determiner but having a proper noun as head.
Characteristically used when the content of the NP is sufficient in the context to
identify the referent.
Deictic. Used in a way that allows the interpretation to be determined by features of
the act of utterance like when and where it takes place, and who the speaker and
addressee are; e.g. l (refers to the speaker), now (refers to a time that includes the
time of utterance).
Deontic modality. Meaning relating prototypically to requirement or permission:
must in Yo u must help expresses deontic necessity; may in Yo u may come in
expresses deontic possibility.
Dependent. An element in the structure of a phrase or clause other than the head:
the new doctor; wrote a book; � old. Covers complements, modifiers and
determiners.
Dependent vs independent genitive. A few personal pronouns have two genitive
forms, a dependent one used with a following head (vour house) and an inde
pendent when it is fused with the head (Her house is bigger than yours) or is
head by itself (All this is yours).
Determinative. A category of words (or lexemes) which can function as deter
miner in an NP, marking it as definite or indefinite: the, a, this, that, some, any,
fe w, etc. Most can occur with other functions too: e.g., that is modifier of an
adjective in It wasn't that great.
Determinative phrase (DP). A phrase with a determinative as head: not many,
almost every.
Determiner. A kind of dependent occurring only in NP structure, and serving to mark
the NP as definite or indefinite. Usually has the form of a determinative (the dog),
a determinative phrase (very few errors), or a genitive NP (this guy 's attitude).