The division of labour between the Basque articles in the indefinite domain
Abstract
The usage of the Basque definite and indefinite articles differs significantly from their Romance counterparts. While the definite article is used as a default article for NPs without another determiner, the exact function of the indefinite article in this system has remained somewhat unclear, although specificity has been brought up as a factor. A comparison with Eastern Armenian, which has a threefold definiteness/specificity distinction, in three parallel texts shows that the use of the indefinite article in Basque follows two different systems in different varieties: in the West it is based on discourse prominence and in the East on individuation.
##about.statistics##
References
Ariztimuño López, B. (2014). The origin of the Basque partitive. In S. Luraghi & T. Huumo (eds.), Partitive cases and related categories (pp. 323-344). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110346060.323
Becker, L. (2021). Articles in the world’s languages. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110724424
de Rijk, R. P. G. (2008). Standard Basque. A progressive grammar. MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/7444.001.0001
Dum-Tragut, J. (2009). Modern Eastern Armenian. John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/loall.14
Eastern Armenian National Corpus (= EANC) (2009). http://www.eanc.net
Ereduzko Prosa Gaur (=EPG). http://www.ehu.eus/euskara-orria/euskara/ereduzkoa
Etxeberria, E. (2008). Ikaslearen hiztegia. Elhuyar.
Etxeberria, U. (2014). The definite article and the partitive particle in Basque: dialectal variation. In S. Luraghi & T. Huumo (eds.), Partitive cases and related categories (pp. 291-222). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110346060.291
Etxezarreta, E. (1981). Euskal elizbarruti arteko ‘Itun Berria’: Itzulpen-xehetasunak historiaren argira. Euskera, 26, 199-217.
Euskal gramatika. Lehen urratsak (=EGLU) i. (1991). Euskaltzaindia.
Euskaltzaindia. (1991). Euskal gramatika. Lehen urratsak (=EGLU). Euskaltzaindia.
Euskaltzaindia. (2021). Euskararen gramatika. Euskaltzaindia.
Givón, T. (1981). On the development of the numeral ‘one’ as an indefinite article. Folia Linguistica Historica, 2, 35-53.
Heine, B. (1997). Cognitive foundations of grammar. Oxford University Press.
Himmelmann, N. P. (2001). Articles. In M. Haspelmath, E. König, W. Oesterreicher & W. Raible (eds.), Language typology and language universals: an international handbook (pp. 831-841). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110194036-013
Ionin, T. (2006). This is definitely specific: specificity and definiteness in article systems. Natural Language Semantics, 14(2), 175-234. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11050-005-5255-9
Lyons, C. (1999). Definiteness. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511605789
Manterola Agirre, J. (2009). Euskal artikuluak euskalki eta autoretan. Oihenart. Cuadernos de Lengua y Literatura, 24, 237-256.
Manterola Agirre, J. (2012a). Synchronic ubiquity of the Basque article -a: A look from diachrony. In U. Etxeberria, R. Etxepare & M. Uribe-Etxebarria (eds.), Noun phrases and nominalization in Basque: syntax and semantics (pp. 179-206). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/la.187.08man
Manterola Agirre, J. (2012b). The Basque articles -a and bat and recent contact theories. In C. Chamoreau & I. Léglise (eds.), Dynamics of contact-in-duced language change (pp. 231-264). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110271430.231
Manterola Agirre, J. (2015). Towards a history of Basque morphology: articles and demonstratives [PhD thesis, UPV/EHU]. ADDI. http://hdl.handle.net/10810/15848
Martínez Areta, M. (2009). The category of number in Basque: I. Synchronic and historical aspects. Fontes Linguae Vasconum, 110, 63-98. https://doi.org/10.35462/flv110.3
Michelena, L. (1990). Textos arcaicos vascos. University of the Basque Country. (Original work published 1964)
Michelena, L., Sarasola, I. & Euskaltzaindia (2024). Orotariko euskal hiztegia (=OEH). Euskaltzaindia.
Orotariko Euskal Hiztegia (=OEH). http://www.euskaltzaindia.eus/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=276&Itemid=413&lang=eu
Sarasola, I. (1991). Bat mugatua eta mugagabea literatur tradizioan. In J. A. Lakarra & I. Ruiz Arzalluz (eds.), Memoriae L. Mitxelena magistri sacrum, vol. 2, 813-826.
Stark, E. (2007). Gender, number, and indefinite articles. About the ‘typological inconsistency’ of Italian. In E. Stark, E. Leiss & W. Abraham (eds.), Nominal determination: typology, context constraints, and historical emergence (pp. 49-71). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.89.05st
Trask, R.L. (2003). The Noun Phrase: nouns, determiners and modifiers; pronouns and names. In J. I. Hualde & J. Ortiz de Urbina (eds.), A grammar of Basque (pp. 113-167). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110895285.113
von Heusinger, K. (2001). Specificity and definiteness in sentence and discourse structure. Sentence Type and Specificity. ZAS papers in Linguistics, 24, 167-189. https://doi.org/10.21248/zaspil.24.2001.131
Zubiri, E. & Zubiri, I. (2000). Euskararen gramatika osoa. Didaktiker.
Primary sources
de Saint-Exupéry, A. (2001). Printze txikia. (P. Zubizarreta, transl.). Elkar. (Original work published 1943)
de Saint-Exupéry, A. (2011). P’ok’rik išxanǝ. (N. Vardanyan, transl.). Antares. (Original work published 1943)
Rowling, J.K. (2000). Harry Potter eta sorgin-harria. (I. Mendiguren, transl.). Elkarlanean. (Original work published 1997)
Rowling, J.K. (2016). Harri P ’ot ’erǝ e w p’ili sop’ayakan k’arǝ. (A. J̌ivanyan, transl.). Zangak. (Original work published 1997) United Nations Human Rights Office. (1998a). Giza eskubideen aldarrikapen uniber-tsala. Transl. United Nations Information Centre, Spain. (Original work published 1948) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?-LangID=bsq
United Nations Human Rights Office. (1998b). Mardow iravownk’neri hamǝndanowrhr̄čʼakagir. Transl. UNO/DPI Yerevan. (Original work published 1948) http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/Language.aspx?LangID=arm
Copyright (c) 2024 Silvie Strauss
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
