Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.1981, Page 89

Unmarked Definite NPs and Referential Cohesion
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í Sælingsdalstungu. Þá sneri Þorgerðr
PREP PHRASE ADV 3 Sg NOM
in Sælingsdalstunga. Then Thorgerd turned
hestinum upp at bœnum . .. (Laxd.:161)
DAT-DEF ADV PREP PHRASE
the horse up toward the farm . ..
Here the definiteness of hestinum derives from the context of the
motion verbs, rather than from a previous mention of the horse (as in
the case of an anaphoric use).
b) NPs identifiable from the known world:
sólin ‘the sun’ or hafit ‘the sea’, also þingit ‘the assembly’.
These uses are not considered cohesive because the definite marking is
independent of the discourse.
c) NPs identifiable cataphorically, that is from the discourse following
the NP; this category includes definite NPs followed by a relative
clause, though normally such NPs are marked with a demonstrative
adjective rather than with a suffixed definite, and definite NPs followed
by a genitive NP or proper noun. The first two cataphoric categories,
preceding a relative clause and preceding a genitive NP, are rare or
even nonexistent in Old Icelandic. The author found no clear examples,
and would thus offer only the following one, which is probably exo-
phorically definite (hgfuðborg being expectable from description of a
country) rather than cataphorically so:
(2) en hgfuðborgin, er var í landinu . . . (Ynglinga saga, Hkr. 1:11)
CONJ NOM REL 3 Sg PREP PHRASE
and the capital city, which was in the country .. .
(Ynglinga saga, Hkr 1:11)
Otherwise one finds phrases like:
(3) Tók Rpgnvaldr jarl skip þau, er átt
3 sg nom ar.r dem rel ppart
Earl Rognvald took the (those) ships which
hafði Vémundr konungr, ok allt lausafé,
3 sg NOM CONJ ACC
King Vemund had owned, and all goods