Re: R: Re: Greenberg's universals

On Thu, 14 Sep 2000, Tim Smith wrote:

> This brings up a point that I've wondered about for some time.  Are there
> any natlangs that have indefinite articles but no definite ones?  In other
> words, where an unmarked NP is interpreted as definite, and has to be
> marked in some way to make it indefinite?  I've never heard of this, but
> intuitively it seems to make sense, since indefinite NPs are generally ones
> that are being introduced into the discourse for the first time, so you'd
> think that they might require some device to call attention to them.
I'm teaching myself Turkish and the grammar *says* it has no definite
article.  So

iyi at (good horse)

means "the good horse" or "good horse."

However, bir (Turkish for "1") can either be used as a number or as the
indefinite:

iyi bir at (good a horse)

means "a good horse," but

bir iyi at (one good horse)

means "one good horse."  (You also say "iki iyi at" for "two good
horses," etc. with numbers.)

So "bir" as indefinite article always goes right before the noun.

OC, I'm only on Lesson 4, so anyone can feel free to correct me.  :-)
Lovely, lovely language.

YHL