> On Fri, Dec 29, 2000 at 03:46:55AM -0000, Eruanno none wrote:
> > >Alternatively, just forget the article and use demonstratives instead.
> > >The Sinitic languages (Chinese "dialects") and Malay/Indonesian don't
have
> > >articles, and they use demonstratives ("this" and "that") instead. My
> > >conlang doesn't have articles either. IMNSHO, articles are cumbersome
and
> > >redundant (except perhaps they're forgiveable in Attic Greek, where
they
> > >are much more flexible than in English). Context usually makes it clear
> > >the scope of your nouns anyway, so why bother? :-)
> >
> > Could you give me an example of demonstratives that could take the place
of
> > articles?
pRomance article ILLU comes from classical Latin ille meaning 'that'. Greek
ho he to comes down from pIE so sa tod, a (deictic-demonstrative) pronoun.
Luca