Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

Staving Stephen Mulraney:

> >
> > Are there any languages that mark a definite/indefinite distinction by
> > means other than articles? I've considered using inflections or word order
> > to mark it in various conlangs. I suppose there's the wa/ga distinction in
> > Japanese, but that's restricting a particular grammatical role (the topic)
> > to definite things, rather than marking definitiveness as such.
> >
> > Pete Bleackley
> >
>
>In Mandarin Chinese, although there's no article, definiteness is
>indicated by preceeding the verb, which seems a bit odd initially,
>but it all makes a strange kind of sense. To wit, quoting from Li &
>Thompson(*): [Interlinears edited a bit for clarity. Don't worry about
>the 'le' particles (ha! if only!)]
Thus proving the rule that you have to work very hard to come up with
something a natural language hasn't thought of first! I came up with word
order marking definiteness in Magikimnaz, a language which, being highly
inflecting, bears no other resemblance to Mandarin whatsoever.

Pete Bleackley