{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8157"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8157","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Situations and individuals","abstract":"I argue that definite descriptions, pronouns and proper names share one common syntax and semantics, basically that of definite descriptions. E-type pronouns are argued to be definite articles that take NP complements elided in the phonology; referential and bound variable pronouns are analyzed as definite articles taking indices as phonologically null complements. Proper names are shown to have previously undetected E-type and bound readings, meaning that they too are best regarded as definite descriptions. It is shown that this position has deleterious consequences for the philosophical theories of direct reference and rigid designation.","abstract_html":"I argue that definite descriptions, pronouns and proper names share one common syntax and semantics, basically that of definite descriptions. E-type pronouns are argued to be definite articles that take NP complements elided in the phonology; referential and bound variable pronouns are analyzed as definite articles taking indices as phonologically null complements. Proper names are shown to have previously undetected E-type and bound readings, meaning that they too are best regarded as definite descriptions. It is shown that this position has deleterious consequences for the philosophical theories of direct reference and rigid designation.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Elbourne, Paul, 1971-"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Irene Heim."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002","date_published":"2002","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:01Z","subjects":["Linguistics and Philosophy."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8157","http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8157"],"render_values":[{"text":"http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8157","href":"http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/8157","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/8157","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Irene Heim."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Linguistics and Philosophy."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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