LINGUIST List 6.236

Fri 17 Feb 1995

Sum: Languages which have lost their articles

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1. , Summary of Q: Articles

Two weeks ago I posted the following query:

)A system of articles is an innovative feature of a number of languages. Are
)there any examples of languages that have lost their articles? I would also
)be interested in creoles, especially, say, if both (all) source languages
)had articles, but the pidgin/creole turned out lacking them.

Thanks to the following for responding:

Lars Borin
David Gohre
John E. Koontz
Jeff Marck
Deborah D. Kela Ruuskanen
Achim Stenzel
Shigenori Wakabayashi
Dave Wharton

Of the 8 replies, only one was an actual response to my query. Lars Borin
(Lars.Borinling.uu.se) pointed out that

)Finnish Romani is a language which has lost its articles completely. The
)loss is almost certainly due to Finnish influence, as are many other
)traits of modern Finnish Romani morphology and syntax.

Moreover, as (colloquial) Finnish may seem to developing an article system
using the demonstrative *se* 'that' (def.) and the numeral *yksi* 'one'
(indef.), it is interesting to note that Lars has

)noticed in Finnish Romani texts that there are forms of the demonstrative
)pronouns 'dauva' (this) and 'douva' (that), which are
)(a) reduced phonologically and indeclinable (reduced versions of the
)nominative plural); the forms are: 'dala' and 'dola' (while the
)nominative plurals of 'dauva/douva' are written 'daala/doola')
)(b) used much as spoken Finnish 'se', i.e. perhaps representing the first
)(or maybe second [...]) stage in a development from demonstrative to
)preposed definite article.

Importantly, the definite articles used to be 'o' (Sg masculine), 'i' (Sg
feminine), and 'e' (plural, both genders), hence nothing like the
demonstrative pronouns.

Now, let me elaborate somewhat on my reason for inquiring into this matter.
Disregarding massive language contact (i.e. "Hey, this is the way we say
things around here, and you'd better start doing so too!") and/or
creolization (i.e. "OK guys, let's start all over again. We'll begin with
lexical categories, then..."): If it were the case that there is a
universal tendency that languages acquire articles, but do not loose them,
then why should this be so? If we take a configurational approach to noun
phrase interpretation, we could say that articles, and hence their
semantics, are associated with a noun phrase internal functional projection
in much the same way as some linguists would assume an association between
tense (and other verbal inflections) and a clausal functional projection.
(In essence, I'm talking about some kind of a DP-analysis.) Since possible
noun phrase interpretations differ minimally across languages (I guess), we
would then assume that in languages without articles, the functional
projection associated with the semantic properties in question would have
phonetically empty heads. The possible tendency of acquiring articles could
then be explained as a strive to fill this/these head/s with overt
elements.
 Unfortunately, I cannot say that I so far have any reason to be
convinced about this line of reasoning, but I can't see any obvious reason
to give it up either. However, I am ready to be butchered. I should
probably read the following references provided by John E. Koontz
(koontzalpha.bldr.nist.gov)

)Greenberg, Joseph H. 1978. How does a language acquire gender markers? pp.
) 47-82. In: Universals of Human Language, Vol. 4, Ed. Jos. H. Greenberg,
) et al. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

)Discusses evolution of gender marking from articles and articles from
)demonstratives. See also:

)Greenberg, Joseph H. 1981. Nilo-Saharan moveable-k as a Stage III Article
) (with a Penutian typological parallel). Journal of African Languages and
) Linguistics 3:105-112.

Those interested in definiteness, especially with respect to English and
Finnish, should consult the following work provided by Deborah D. Kela
Ruuskanen (druuskancc.helsinki.fi).

)Chesterman, A. (1991) On definiteness: A study with special reference to
)English and Finnish. Cambridge Studies in Linguistics 56, Cambridge
)University Press.

It's worth reading - I've done it.

0ystein Alexander Vangsnes
University of Iceland - University of Bergen
 oysteinrhi.hi.is vangsnesfoli.uib.no