Honorific titles are D

Abstract

This study proposes a hypothesis that honorific titles such as English Mr and Japanese san occupy the D head position and discusses its consequences to the syntax and semantics of nominals. Seven pieces of supporting evidence are presented using data from various languages. If the proposed hypothesis is correct, (i) nominals in languages without articles are not NP but DP, (ii) proper names cannot be D but N, and (iii) a semantic parameter concerning the basic denotation of common nouns such as Chierchia's (1998) Nominal Mapping Parameter is unnecessary.