Re: Probability of Article Replacement?

John Cowan wrote:
>Andreas Johansson scripsit:
>
> > How probable is it for a language that has a definite article to replace it
> > with a form derived from a demonstrative? Are any such examples known from
> > real-world languages?
>
>What little I know of the subject says that languages sometimes acquire
>definite articles, but don't discard or replace them.
   While this is true (with a standard demonstrative > article derivation)
I can see the possibility of the reverse happening. In Welsh or Irish for
example, where the article and the demonstrative both appear (Irish 'an
peann seo' "that pen" for example). I can see the article (only realized as
/@/) being lost and the demonstrative taking over. I don't think any langs
have done so yet, but I could see it easily happening in the future.

   Aidan

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