The Hispanic Languages
Determiners and the definite article 1
The article
1 ILLE/IPSE as a replacement for IS
1.1 Extended usages
1.1.1 Anaphoric
(1)
(2)
QUAM URBEM IS REX CONDIDIT (Pliny)
‘which city (the?) king founded’
Aquí está una bicicleta... La bicicleta está rota.
‘Here is a bicycle... The bicycle is broken’
1.1.2 Wider anaphoric
(3)
Se me quebró el brazo
‘I broke my arm’
(4)
Tomamos el café a las once
‘We had coffee at eleven’
(5)
Entonces salió la luna
‘Then the moon came out’
1.2 Specifying
1.2.1 Pronoun antecedent to qui
(6)
IS MINIMO EGIT QUI MINIMO CUPIT (Pubilius Syrus)
‘He wants least who desires least’
(7)
El chico que vi ayer era el hermano de Juan
‘The boy I saw yesterday was John’s brother’
1.2.2 With defining adjective or adjectival phrase (reduced relative)
(8)
Tráigame el libro verde
‘Bring me the green book’
1.3 ‘New’ usages
1.3.1 Generic
(9)
El cuclillo pone sus huevos en nidos ajenos
‘The cuckoo (= cuckoos) lays its eggs in other birds’ nests’
1.3.2 Abstract Nouns
(10)
La prudencia es una virtud importante
‘Prudence is an important virtue’
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The Hispanic Languages
Determiners and the definite article 2
1.3.3 Names of countries, etc.
(11)
Inglaterra, La India, (el) Perú
el Ebro
el español
1.3.4 Marker of number/gender?
(12)
el guardia / la guardia, el pez / la pez
And. [] / [l]
2 Increase in frequency of ILLE/IPSE:
(13)
Et quoniam nobis iter sic erat, ut per valle illa media, qua tenditur per longum,
iremus, id est illa valle, quam superius dixi, ubi sederant filii Israhel, dum
Moyses ascenderet in montem Dei, et descenderet: itaque ergo singula,
quemadmodum venimus per ipsam totam vallem, semper nobis sancti illi loca
demonstrabant...(Peregrinatio Egeriae, 43,4)
3 The article as part of a system of determiners
CL: Ø / IS / HIC /...
*VL: Ø / ILLE~IPSE / UNUS / DE / ECCE ILLE / ...
MSp: Ø / el / un / este / ese / aquel....
4 Various hypotheses concerning the emergence of the Romance article
4.1 The mentalist hypothesis
El nacimiento del artículo [en romance] en ese tránsito respondió a la propagación de la
espiritualidad cristiana, vinculada a la relación personal del individuo con Dios y con el
mundo. (Lapesa, 1961:28)
If a meaning-shift in the process of grammaticalization occurs within a component, it is more
likely to involve ‘less personal to more personal’ than the reverse.
[The definite article in English] developed a participant-orientated function, that of
establishing what is being talked about as if it is known to the hearer. (Closs Traugott,
1982:252-3)
4.2 The adstrate hypothesis
Perhaps through the frequent bilingual use of Latin with Greek, both in Rome and in the East,
speakers of Latin came to feel the need for such determiners and used pre-existing Latin
particles to supply the newly felt need. (Penny, 1991:130)
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The Hispanic Languages
Determiners and the definite article 3
4.3 Structural hypotheses
4.3.1 The demonstrative shift hypothesis
The six pronouns is, ille, idem, ipse, hic and iste are so closely inter-related in meaning and
usage, that a full understanding of the development of each of them must be based upon a due
consideration of all the rest. (Meader, 1901:103)
4.3.2 The article and the case system
In the earliest stages of its development, the definite article was used to indicate that a
particular individual or object was the one already identified or about to be identified. The
need of such an indication was most often felt when the noun in question was the subject of
the sentence. When the noun was object of the verb or object of a preposition, the need
appeared less frequently. (Keniston, 1937:218)
4.3.3 The drift hypothesis
The article makes overt distinctions which in Latin were covert and hence its development
may be seen as an aspect of drift towards analyticity.
4.3.4 The exploitation of a determiner category
References
Closs Traugott, Elizabeth, 1982. ‘From propositional to textual and expressive meanings:
some semantic-pragmatic aspects of grammaticalization’, in Lehmann, W.P. & Malkiel,
Yakov (eds.), Perspectives on Historical Linguistics, in Current Issues in Linguistic
Theory 24, pp.245-71 (Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Benjamins).
Keniston, H., 1937. The syntax of Castilian prose (Chicago: Chicago University Press).
Lapesa. Rafael, 1961. ‘Del demostrativo al artículo’, Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica,
15, 23-44.
Meader, C.L., 1901. The Latin pronouns is: hic: iste: ipse: a semasiological study (London
and New York: Macmillan).
Penny, Ralph, 1991. A History of the Spanish Language (CUP).
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