Re: Definiteness

On 3/2/08, Paul Bennett <paul.w.bennett@...> wrote:

> In Terzemian, as IIRC in Spanish, I distinguish three articles:
>
> Type 0: Not definite to the speaker
> Type 1: Definite to the speaker, but the speaker does not know (or care?)
> whether it's definite to the listener
> Type 2: Definite to the speaker, and the speaker expects / wants it to be
> definite to the listener
In gzb there are no articles as such, and marking definiteness
is optional, but there are demonstratives and similar modifier
particles that serve much the same function as articles:

rî'mâ  rjâ-i.
house  quest-at
I'm looking for a/some/the house. [ambiguous, context may clarify]

rî'mâ  kwǒ  rjâ-i.
house  some  quest-at
I'm looking for a house.

rî'mâ  sǒ  rjâ-i.
house  certain  quest-at
I'm looking for a certain house.

rî'mâ  pǒ  rjâ-i.
house  that.3  quest-at
I'm looking for the/that house.

rî'mâ  ʝel  mĭ-i  zym-zô.
house  in.general  TOP-at  think-V.ACT
I'm thinking about houses in general. [about the category of houses]

The last instance corresponds to another use of "the"
in English, to refer to a category as a whole.  With some
nouns the bare singular noun with no article serves that purpose;
with most others the bare plural noun:

The lion is the king of beasts.

or:

Lions are mammals.

but:

Man is a political animal.

--
Jim Henry
http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/gzb/gzb.htm