Determination s.s.¹ is

1. a set of linguistic operations which manipulate the referentiality of their operand
2. the syntagmatic relation between the operator, viz. a determiner, and the operand, which is a nominal expression.

1. Semantically, determination renders the operand referential or, on the contrary, specifies that it is non-referential. In the first case, determination actualizes the notion designated by the operand.
2. Structurally, determination combines the determiner with the operand. This converts a nominal into a noun phrase.

The referentiality of a nominal expression may also be set by operations not provided by the linguistic system, i.e. by pragmatic operations.

¹ Especially in European structuralism, ‘determination’ has also been used in a wider sense where, given a syntagma [D H] where D restricts the semantic domain of H, D determines H.