Table Of ContentLaura Becker
Articles in the world’s languages
Linguistische Arbeiten
Edited by
Klaus von Heusinger, Agnes Jäger,
Gereon Müller, Ingo Plag,
Elisabeth Stark and Richard Wiese
Volume 577
Laura Becker
Articles in
the world’s
languages
ISBN 978-3-11-072434-9
e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-072442-4
e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-072457-8
ISSN 0344-6727
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021940768
Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;
detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck
Printed in Germany
www.degruyter.com
Contents
ListofTables|XI
ListofFigures|XIII
Acknowledgments|XV
Abbreviations|XVII
1 Introduction|1
1.1 Previouswork|2
1.2 Thepresentstudy|9
1.2.1 Objectives|9
1.2.2 Inanutshell|10
1.2.3 Dataandmethodology|19
2 Articlesasacrosslinguisticcategory|32
2.1 Theproblem|32
2.2 Definingarticles|36
2.2.1 Articlesasacrosslinguisticcategory|36
2.2.2 Articlesencodereferentialfunctions|38
2.2.3 Articlesoccurinthenominaldomain|42
2.2.4 Articlesaresystematicallydistributed|47
2.3 Summary|56
3 Referentialityandtypesofarticles|57
3.1 Referentiality|57
3.1.1 Thediscoursesituation|57
3.1.2 Identifiability,definiteness,andindefiniteness|61
3.2 Thereferentialfunctions|70
3.2.1 Deictic|70
3.2.2 Anaphoric|72
3.2.3 Recognitional|73
3.2.4 Establishing|75
3.2.5 Situationallyunique|78
3.2.6 Contextuallyunique|79
3.2.7 Bridging|86
3.2.8 Absolutelyunique|90
VI | Contents
3.2.9 Specific|91
3.2.10 Nonspecific|92
3.3 Definingthearticletypes|93
3.3.1 Articlesinthedefinitedomain|93
3.3.2 Articlesintheindefinitedomain|95
3.3.3 Domain-crossingarticles|96
3.4 Referentialfunctions,articletypes,andreferential
hierarchies|97
3.4.1 Referentialfunctionsandarticletypesdistinguishedinthepresent
study|98
3.4.2 Referentialscales|100
3.4.3 Pragmatic(strong)andsemantic(weak)definiteness|104
3.5 Summary|107
4 Thedistinctionbetweenarticlesandrelatedmarkers|108
4.1 Demonstrativesandarticlesinthedefinitedomain|108
4.2 Possessivesanddefinitearticles|118
4.2.1 Udmurt|119
4.2.2 Amharic|124
4.2.3 Indonesian|125
4.3 Thenumeral‘one’andarticlesintheindefinitedomain|128
4.4 Negativepolarityitemsandnonspecificarticles|133
4.5 Summary|137
5 Articlesinthedefinitedomain|139
5.1 Definitearticles|139
5.1.1 Kaqchikel|140
5.1.2 Mokpe|145
5.1.3 Definitearticleswithdeicticreferents|152
5.1.4 Definitearticleswithabsolutelyuniquereferents|157
5.1.5 Definitearticleswithpropernouns|162
5.2 Anaphoricarticles|165
5.2.1 Limbum|165
5.2.2 Komnzo|171
5.2.3 Akan|175
5.2.4 Anaphoricarticleswithestablishingandrecognitional
referents|185
5.3 Weakdefinitearticles|189
5.3.1 FeringandGerman|190
5.3.2 Hausa|197
Contents | VII
5.3.3 Lakota|203
5.3.4 Urama|208
5.3.5 Ma’di|211
5.4 Recognitionalarticles|214
5.4.1 Oksapmin|215
5.4.2 Lavukaleve|218
5.4.3 BininjKun-Wok|221
5.4.4 Yankunytjatjara|224
5.4.5 Gooniyandi|228
5.4.6 Recognitionalarticles:summaryandoutlook|230
5.5 Summary|231
6 Articlesintheindefinitedomain|235
6.1 Indefinitearticles|236
6.1.1 Tz’utujil|236
6.1.2 SriLankaMalay|239
6.1.3 Bonan|242
6.2 Presentationalarticles|245
6.2.1 Lango|247
6.2.2 Bilua|249
6.2.3 Chatino|250
6.2.4 Kashibo-Kakataibo|253
6.2.5 PresentationalarticlesandthedevelopmentofNUM>
ART:INDEF|257
6.3 Exclusive-specificarticles|260
6.3.1 Biak|260
6.3.2 Akan|264
6.3.3 Palula|266
6.4 Nonspecificarticles|268
6.4.1 Ayoreo|268
6.4.2 Lakota|272
6.4.3 Tongan|275
6.4.4 Onthesourceofnonspecificarticles|282
6.5 Summary|287
7 Domain-crossingarticles|289
7.1 Inclusive-specificarticles|289
7.1.1 Bemba|290
7.1.2 Ayoreo|294
7.1.3 Tongan:evidenceforaweakinclusive-specificarticle?|297
VIII | Contents
7.2 Referentialarticles|304
7.2.1 RapaNui|305
7.2.2 Baure|310
7.2.3 Halkomelem|314
7.3 Summary|321
8 Articles:crosslinguistictrendsandvariation|323
8.1 Overalldistributionofthe10articletypes|323
8.2 Arealtrends|330
8.3 Theabsenceofgenericarticles|337
8.4 Referentialscales:evidencefromarticles|342
8.4.1 Arefinedreferentialscale|342
8.4.2 Thedistributionofarticlesalongthereferentialscale|345
8.5 Atypologyofarticles|347
8.5.1 Resultsofthepresentstudy|347
8.5.2 AcomparisonwithDryer’stypology|350
8.6 Summary|355
9 Articlesystems|357
9.1 Dependenciesbetweenarticles|357
9.1.1 Weakdefiniteandanaphoricarticles|357
9.1.2 Nonspecificandspecificarticles|362
9.2 Functionaloverlapofarticlesinthedefinitedomain|364
9.3 Functionaloverlapofarticlesintheindefinitedomain|366
9.3.1 Tepehua|367
9.3.2 Basque|372
9.3.3 Maori|379
9.4 Atypologyofarticlesystems|393
9.4.1 Articlesystemsmarkingthedefinitedomain|393
9.4.2 Articlesystemsmarkingtheindefinitedomain|395
9.4.3 Articlesystemsmarkingthedefiniteandtheindefinite
domain|396
9.4.4 Articlesystemswithfunctionaloverlap|401
9.4.5 Thecrosslinguisticdistributionofarticlesystems|402
9.4.6 Evidenceforadefiniteandanindefinitedomain|405
9.5 Summary|407
10 Conclusions|410
10.1 Mainfindings|410
10.1.1 Articletypes|410
Contents | IX
10.1.2 Articlesanddiscourseprominence|413
10.1.3 Articlesystems|415
10.2 Futureresearch|417
LanguageIndex|421
Bibliography|423
