‘ The + singular noun’ and the notion of ‘well-established kinds’

This paper proposes an improved description of the conditions of use of DPs of the form ‘ the + singular noun’ in English (henceforth the +SG) to refer to a kind. These conditions remain comparatively little known, as the bulk of research on generics is on bare plurals. It is widely assumed that the +SG is restricted to well-established kinds, but a closer scrutiny of naturally occurring data clearly shows that this condition is neither necessary nor sufficient. The paper then proposes a way to organise the phenomenology of the +SG. We claim that it comprises not one but three classes of readings, corresponding to three types of relationships between the kind and the instances. These classes correlate strictly with distributional factors – the possibility to replace the +SG with a bare plural and/or a +SG –, which is strong evidence of their relevance. Finally, the paper seeks to establish how these classes interact with differences in availability or degree of conventionality of kind readings with the +SG. It shows the role of language-independent organisation of knowledge and contextual facilitation.