Universal #1164

Legacy number: 1164

 Number  1160
 Original  Any noun that is pronominalizable may take a definite article, but of these, only those that are numerable may take an indefinite article.
 Standardized  Any noun that is pronominalizable may take a definite article, but of these, only those that are numerable may take an indefinite article.
 Keywords  indefinite article
 Domain  syntax
 Type  implication
 Status  achronic
 Quality  absolute
 Basis  106 languages surveyed in Moravcsik 1969
 Source  Moravcsik 1969: 87

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Discussion
Notes
Indefinite articles tend to be confined to determining the singular of count nouns. Nevertheless, there may be exceptions where the article has been extended to nonsingular referents. Thus, Classical Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Baka (Adamawa-Ubangian, Niger-Congo), Bulgarian (S. Slavic, Indo-Hittite), Ewe (Kwa, Niger-Congo), French, Spanish (both Italic, Indo-European), and Uzbek (Turkic, Altaic) distinguish indefinite markers in the plural of the nouns. Classical Arabic, Baka, and French distinguish definite markers on mass nouns as well. (See Heine et al. 1995)
Comment
Frans Plank · 3 Aug 2006
Indefinite articles tend to be confined to determining the singular of count nouns. Nevertheless, there may be exceptions where the article has been extended to nonsingular referents. Thus, Classical Arabic (Semitic, Afro-Asiatic), Baka (Adamawa-Ubangian, Niger-Congo), Bulgarian (S. Slavic, Indo-Hittite), Ewe (Kwa, Niger-Congo), French, Spanish (both Italic, Indo-European), and Uzbek (Turkic, Altaic) distinguish indefinite markers in the plural of the nouns. Classical Arabic, Baka, and French distinguish definite markers on mass nouns as well. (See Heine et al. 1995)