Gli usi dell’articolo e del pro-aggettivo in alcuni tipi di sintagmi nominali italiani a confronto con lo sloveno

The article focuses on the relationship between postmodifiers in the form of noun phrases, relative and content clauses, and the use of articles or pro-adjectives in the nominal heads. The results of a qualitative analysis of Slovene and Italian texts and their translations into Italian and Slovene are presented, the main purpose of which was to identify markers of definiteness in Slovene and to predict the use of articles in Italian, thus showing the possibilities for Slovenes to express themselves appropriately in Italian. Assuming that definiteness is a universal category and therefore recognisable also in languages without articles (Slovene), and considering the author and the translator ideal speakers of Slovene and/or Italian, the Slovene texts served as the starting point of each analysis, while the Italian texts played the role of control. An article use is defined as cataphoric if the content of the postmodifier contributes to the definite interpretation of its head. Subordinate noun phrases can be divided into conceptual and argumentative. In Italian, the former, expressing a non-entity, are marked by a zero article and form a semantic unit with their heads, whereas the latter, expressing an entity, are marked by an article (included the zero one) and do not form a semantic unit with their heads. Related to definiteness is the restrictiveness of the clause, which consists in the article or pro-adjective determining the head including its postmodifier. Such heads can be both definite or indefinite. The analyses have shown instances of relative clauses that are placed between restrictive and non-restrictive ones. Conveying descriptive information, they occur after the heads preceded by an indefinite article. The definiteness of nominal heads preceded by a pro-adjective or without a determiner in Slovene texts is also discussed.

For the Question of the Semantic Theories of Antroponyms

The article presents and analyzes the semantic theories and the history of the study of anthroponyms, the syntactic characteristics of anthroponyms, issues related to the semantics of anthroponyms, as well as the features of the primary and secondary use of anthroponyms with a definite and indefinite article. As far as the tradition of research is concerned, linguistic considerations and concepts developed in the form of theories are especially important in this regard. In particular, the theory of names, the descriptive theory of anthroponyms, and the metallinguistic theory of anthroponyms. The subject of their research is the lexical and descriptive meaning of anthroponyms, the main reference, dependence on the context, information and cognitive content, convention (mutual agreement) of the participants in the communicative act.

The polyfunctional lexeme /fard/ in the Arabic dialects of Iraq and Khuzestan

The primary aim of this paper is to explore the functions of the word /fard/ in Iraqi and Khuzestani Arabic. The study is based on the analysis of various text corpora and the elicitation of further examples from native speakers of the varieties investigated. The analysis of these data has shown that /fard/ is a polyfunctional item. Its various functions are the result of several grammaticalization processes. In the first stage, the noun “individual” has become a quantifier that expresses singularity. From this stage it developed into an intensifier, a marker of approximation and the scalar adverb “only.” It has been demonstrated that, from its use as a presentative marker, it developed toward an indefinite article. In contrast to the definite article, which is a grammatical category in nearly every variety of Arabic, the use of an indefinite article is rarely found in spoken Arabic. In Iraqi and Khuzestani Arabic, /fard/ is an indefinite article that possesses a wide range of applications and only a limited set of constraints. Its use, however, remains optional to a very high degree. Its main function is that of a presentative—i.e., introducing a new referent into a discourse. In addition, it also functions as an individuation marker, as a marker for expressing the speaker’s epistemic status (knowledge/ignorance) regarding a referent, and indicating free choice from a set of potential referents. Related to this last function is its use as a mitigating device in imperatives and polite requests.

HERTA MULLER “BREATHING SWING”: TRANSLATION OF THE CATEGORY OF DEFINITENESS / INDEFINITENESS

This scientific research deals with a topical linguistic and translation problem – the category of definiteness / indefinitenessand ways of its reproduction in the German- Ukrainian translations of modern fiction. The purposeof this articleis to determine the ways one can employ to convey different meanings of German articles and other determinants into Ukrainian, as they are used to express the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the German language. To achieve this goal, there has been employed comparative and descriptive methodsof linguistic research as they allow to consider different ways of expression of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the Ukrainian translation. The objectof this research is the translation of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness which leads to a strictly defined subject. The subjectof the study are explicit means of expression of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in German (in the novel “Breathing Swing” by H. Muller) and implicit means of its expression in Ukrainian (in the Ukrainian translation of the respective novel).Results.The comparative analysis of the original and translated texts makes it possible to determine the main linguistic means of reprodution the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the Ukrainian translation. The analyzed material contains examples where the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the original text is expressed by a definite article which is translated by a pronominalized numeral “some of”, an indefinite-personal pronoun “someone”, or an indefinite pronoun; an indefinite article which is translated by pronouns; zero article is reproduced by a more detailed translation; pronouns are reproduced by their equivalents, as well as other pronouns; other cases of translation include a periphrasis, a descriptive, inaccurate or non-literal translation. Conclusions:Definite, indefinite, zero articles and pronouns serve as the main, most consistent, and regular means of realization of the category of definiteness / indefiniteness in the German language. While there are no certain morphological means of expression of this category in the Ukrainian language, the translator uses lexical and syntactic means for reproduction of the category definiteness / indefiniteness. The context also plays an essential role.Key words: category of determination, the definitness / indefinitness, article, pronoun, translation. У дослідженні порушується актуальна перекладознавча проблема – особливості відтворення категорії означеності / неозначеності на матеріалі німецько-українських перекладів творів сучасної художньої літератури. Метоюданої статті є визначення способів передачі українською мовою значень німецьких артиклів та інших детермінативів, за допомогою яких вира-жається категорія означеності / неозначеності в німецькій мові. Для досягнення поставленої мети застосовуються зіставний та описовий методи лінгвістичного дослідження, що дозволяють розглянути різні способи передачі засобів вираження катего-рії означеності / неозначеності в українському перекладі. Об’єктом дослідження постає категорія означеності / неозначеності, що виступає засобом позначення певного предмета. Предметом вивчення є експліцитні засоби вираження вищевказаної кате-горії в німецькій мові (в романі Г. Мюллер «Гойдалка дихання») та імпліцитні в українському перекладі зазначеного твору. За допомогою результатів, досягнутих внаслідок зіставного аналізу текстів оригіналу та перекладу, вдалося встановити основні мовні засоби відтворення категорії означеності / неозначеності в українському перекладі.Зокрема, зафіксовано такі випадки вираження категорії означеності / неозначеності в мові-оригіналі, а також засоби та способи їх відтвореня в мові перекла-ду: неозначений артикль перекладений прономіналізованим числівником «один із/з», неозначено-особовоим займенником «якийсь», вказівним займенником; означений артикль – за допомогою займенників; нульовий артикль відтворено деталізованим перекладом; детермінативи – їх відповідниками, а також іншими детермінативами; в деяких випадках перекладач вдається до перифрази, описового, неточного чи недослівного перекладу. Висновки:в німецькій мові означеність / неозначеність виражається за допомогою артиклів (означеного, неозначеного або нульового), а також інших детермінативів, якими часто виступають займенники. В той час як в українській мові певних морфологічних засобів вираження цієї категорії нема, перекладач вдається до використання лексичних та синтаксичних засобів, важлива роль при цьому відводиться контексту. Ключові слова: категорія детермінації, означеність / неозначеність, артикль, займенник, переклад.

ИНОВАЦИОННИ ПРОЦЕСИ И ГРАМАТИКАЛИЗАЦИЯ / THE PROCESSES OF INNOVATION AND GRAMMATICALIZATION

The article looks into some specific features of the syntagmatic and paradigmatic parameters of grammaticalization as proposed by Lehman (2002) and their application to two innovations observed in the Bulgarian standard language that are not found in Old Bulgarian. Firstly, my research outlines Lehman’s model of grammaticalization by focusing on its syntagmatic and paradigmatic parameters. Then, I highlight the latter’s peculiarities by examining noun phrases with edin, edna, edno, edni and go on to suggest that the process of their grammaticalization has not come to an end. I also pay attention to the specific features of several syntagmatic parameters of the process of grammaticalization that can be found in verb forms in the indicative, the conclusive, the renarrative, and the dubitative. In conclusion, I propose the addition of a new syntagmatic parameter to Lehman's theory – the parameter of formal alternative. Keywords: innovation, grammaticalization, syntagmatic parameters, paradigmatic parameters, indefinite article, indicative, conclusive, renarrative, dubitative, Bulgarian language

Not-negation revisited: variation between a and any in verb complements in contemporary spoken American English

In not-negated English sentences with indefinite expressions following the verb, there is variation between the indefinite article and any as determiners of nouns. The standard view is that singular count nouns take the indefinite article and singular non-count and plural nouns take any. However, it is possible to encounter examples like it isn't any threat, there isn't any lock or I don't have any problem.The article studies variation between the indefinite article and any as post-verbal determiners of singular nouns in 21,084 not-negated sentences in the spoken component of The Corpus of Contemporary American English, COCA SPOK. The indefinite article is dominant with 90 per cent of the tokens. Variation is extremely rare in sentences with copular be and much more frequent in sentences with existential be and have. Among the reasons for variation between verb types is the use of do-support with have (but not with be). Expressions such as have a job/car/home or there's not a/an with uncontracted not may also prevent the use of any. Variation occurs mostly with abstract nouns such as problem, choice, way, place, reason. This finding is surprising as abstract nouns have rarely been discussed in the literature on varying countability of nouns.

Grammatical Gender and Declension Class in Language Change: A Study of the Loss of Feminine Gender in Norwegian

In this paper, we investigate an ongoing change in the grammatical gender system of Norwegian. Previous research has shown that the feminine form of the indefinite article is quickly disappearing from several dialects, which has led to claims that the feminine gender is being lost from the language. We have carried out a study of the status of the feminine in possessives across five age groups of speakers of the Tromsø dialect. Our findings show that the prenominal possessives are affected by the change to the same extent as the indefinite article, while forms that have been argued not to be exponents of gender (the definite suffix and the postnominal possessive) are generally unaffected.

The Acquisition of French Un

How does cross-linguistic variation in grammatical structure affect children’s acquisition of number words? In this study, we addressed this question by investigating the case study of young speakers of French, a language in which the number one and the indefinite article a are phonologically the same (i.e., un). We tested how French-speaking children interpret un, and whether it more closely resembles the English word a or one. We found that French-speaking children almost always accepted sets of 1 for un, but that their responses for sets of 2 were more equivocal, with many children saying “Oui” (Yes) when asked whether there was un. Overall, French children’s interpretation of un differed from how English-speaking interpret both a and one. This suggests that French-speaking children’s interpretation of un reflects the ambiguity of the input that they are exposed to. We conclude that French morphological structure may pose a challenge to French- speaking children in acquiring an exact numerical meaning for the word un, potentially causing a delay in number word learning.

Determiners and the deictic system

How did the definite article evolve morphologically from Latin ILLE? What is the determiner al and how did it evolve? What is the history of the indefinite article? How does locative and adverbial deixis work? What is the function of the formatives -a, -le, and -și?