Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Doug Dee 
  To: CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU 
  Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 10:16 AM
  Subject: Re: Probability of Article Replacement?



 I was distinct annoyed to read in _Definiteness_ that "It has often been
pointed out that no language has noun phrases distinctively generic in form."
That is, my article #2 seems to violate a linguistic universal that generics
are treated as either definite or indefinite.

  Doug 

  ---

 It's somewhat disturbing to see this. A great many of my conlangs have a
"generic" category, though usually as a number opposing singular and plural
(and dual, etc.). I didn't know I wasn't supposed to do that...

 Actually, I find this happenning a lot. Really puts the idea of linguistic
universals to shame, doesn't it?

  Joe Fatula