Rara #122
Legacy number: 122
| Number | 122 |
| Phenomenon | a definite article formally distinct from (one form or another of) any kind of pronoun – demonstrative, personal (free, clitic, or bound), possessive, relative, interrogative |
| Found in | Modern English (Germanic, IE) |
| Domain | syntax — pronouns, articles |
| Type | rarissimum |
| Keywords | definite article |
| Source | Hewson, John (1991). Determiners as heads. Cognitive Linguistics 2: 317-337; p. 322. Plank, Frans & The Extended Noun Phrase Group (1994). A panel on the lawfulness of the double life of the definite article. In Conversations on Noun Phrases (EUROTYP Working Papers VII/20), 49-79, 113. |
| Violates | none |
Discussion
Notes
Even in Modern English the definite article is partially similar to demonstrative pronouns, though also to many further grammatical words with initial /D/. The only word the Modern English definite article is formally fully identical to is the correlative conjunction the as in the sooner the better ? or whatever kind of word we are dealing with here: it is unlikely to be a pronoun, or the definite article itself.
Comment
Even in Modern English the definite article is partially si milar to demonstrative pronouns, though also to many further grammatical words with initial /D/. The only word the Modern English definite article is formally fully identical to is the correlative conjunction the as in the sooner the better – or whatever kind of word we are dealing with here: it is unlikely to be a pronoun, or the definite article itself.
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