Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

Jan van Steenbergen wrote:
>  --- Andreas Johansson wrote:
>
> > Jake X wrote:
> > >and "ein Boot" (wait, is Boot das? it's been too long....)
>
>You don't know this famous movie about the German submarine during WWII,
>titled
>"Das Boot" (a U-Boot in this case...)
>
> > The Germanic languages are pretty freeky in this regard - definite
>articles
> > in both numbers, but the indefinite ones only show up in the singular.
>
>Freaky perhaps, yes. But that quite logical if you consider the fact that
>they
>were derived from the numeral "1". "One boats" would be quite
>contradictory, I
>think.
My French isn't rusty for the simple reason that I don't know it, but the sg
indefinite article _un_/_une_, derived from _unus_, hasn't prevented French
from acquiring a pl indefinite article _des_.

>However, I could imagine a conlang (or natlang, why not?) where the
>indefinite
>article has its roots in a form like "some", "any", "of any kind". In such
>case
>I don't see any reason for not having a plural form.
I can't see any reason why "some", or something else, couldn't been
pressganged into service as a pl indefinite article in English despite the
sg one bein related to "one".
>
> > What other languages with this lack of symmetry are there?
>
>Isn't there some Romance language with a form like "uns"?
No idea.

                                                 Andreas

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