Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

Nik Taylor scripsit:

> In my opinion, the "definite article" in English should be renamed "the
> specific article", since it can (usually) only be used when referring to
> a specific entity.
That turns out not to be the case.  The normal way of encoding +specific
-definite noun phrases in English is with "a" or "a certain".  There are
languages that mark specificity rather than definiteness (Lojban, e.g.),
but English is not one of them.

--
John Cowan           http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language
that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful.
        --_The Hobbit_

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