Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

I wrote:

> I'll ask her about it as soon as possible.
Amazingly enough, she replied in less than an hour (on a
Sunday afternoon).

She says that 8% is correct (including both definite and
indefinite articles, but that's not much of a difference
since most languages -- it seems -- which has a definite
article has an indefinite but not the other way around).

She says she's got the figure from her <quote> pal </quote> :)
Martin Haspelmath (and I'm not surprised since he's almost
hysterically productive in typological matters). Anyway,
that should vouch for reliable data in any case.

Other things common in SAE, but not elsewhere, are the
occurrence of "have" verbs and the coinciding meanings of
"with" (instrumental and comitative).

She's offered to give me a couple of articles on the matter,
so I'll read them and see if they can add something to what
I said above.

||| daniel

--
"You can't post that on the Internet, you don't even know if
it's true!" - Lisa Simpson to Homer.

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