Definiteness in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian and some implications for the general structure of the nominal phrase

This paper questions traditional views that in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian (S/C/B), languages without a system of articles, definiteness may be expressed through some other linguistic means, namely word order, the aspect of adjectives, and demonstrative determiners. While it is assumed that semantic/pragmatic definiteness as a universal category is inferred in communication though some general principles of goal-oriented behaviour, it is argued that it is not grammaticalised in these languages. The structure of the nominal phrase in S/C/B is discussed, and evidence from an SLA study presented which supports the argument that DP is not projected on top of (full) nominal phrases in S/C/B.