Re: CHAT: Definite/Indefinite Article Distinction

a propos this whole discussion :

is there anywhere a 'definitive' categorisation of the
roles of definite and indefinite ( and indeed other
sorts of ) articles in natural languages.

reason i'm asking is that it would be useful when
conlanging to be able to look at such a list and
decide which cases would use which
article/definiteness marker/&c

at the moment i'm just making it up as i go along, and
i'm not to satisfied with that

examples of what i'm thinking of include :
use of def art with proper nouns : Greek, German
use of def art with abstract nouns : Greek, French (
does German do this ? )
use of article in general statements : French
use of partitive article : French
use of article in comparisons ( the more the merrier )
: English

&c&c&c

bn

=====
bnathyuw | landan | arR
stamp the sunshine out | angelfish
your tears came like anaesthesia | phèdre

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Everything you'll ever need on one web page
from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts
http://uk.my.yahoo.com

Reply