21 Category of Definiteness - Indefiniteness

By this category grammarians underst& the definiteness or indefiniteness of the object named. The notion of definiteness-indefiniteness can be expressed by lex. means & gram.ly, i.e. by the articles & the determiners. The indefinite article expresses the indefiniteness of the object named. The definite article expresses the definiteness of the object named & singles it out of a class of similar objects. The determiners this, that, each, every, some, any, which, no, either, much, the conjoint possessive pronouns my, his, etc. are used to express definiteness or indefiniteness. E.g. That room was small. I took off my hat. One day, when we were in love; one wonderful morning in May...

Proper names are identified well enough not to need the articles or the determiners. But as soon as they are not, they are used with the article or some determiner: e.g.The Browns are out of the town. She married a Jackson. There are different points of view as to the status of the article. Some linguists consider it to be a word, & even a separate part of speech. Others regard articles to be a kind of morpheme, which helps to form the category of D/I.

There is also the problem of the number of the articles. Besides the definite & indefinite articles some scholars find the so-called zero article. The absence of the article is also meaningful, it shows the absence of the indefinite article before abstract nouns & the nouns in plural. It is necessary to distinguish b/n the meaning & the functions of articles. The functions can be defined only in the sentence. So the context plays the most important part in the use of the articles in the E. language. e.g. the dog is a domestic animal (generalization), the dog has come home (particularization)

The functions of the indefinite article

1)the nominating or classifying function.It is used with a word which names an object, referring it to a class of similar objects e.g. This is a table. He works here as a teacher. the indefinite article may be used with a noun which narrow the class to which the object belongs: cf. He is a boy. He is a nice boy. He is a nice boy of twenty, etc.

2) the generalizing function- the indefinite article is used with a noun which names an average class representative E.g. A sentence is a language unit. In this function the indefinite article comes very near to the meaning of the indefinite pronoun “any” (любой). E.g. Any sentence is a language unit.

3) aspective or stylistic function - In such cases the indefinite article is used in combination with some descriptive attributes to show that the characteristics ascribed by them to the person named is not permanent but temporary (Elizabeth was not always angry: she was angry at that particular moment). In its aspective function the indefinite article may be used with proper names as well.

E.g. He was met at the door by an angry Elizabeth.

The indefinite article is sometimes used with the nouns which name unique things or abstract notions: E.g. There was a young moon.

4) the communicating function - The indefinite article is also used to introduce “the new” in a communication. E.g. The door opened & a man entered the room.

In the Rus. sentence we place the word that corresponds to the E. word with the indefinite article at the end of the sentence. The indefinite article in this function is often used to introduce a person or a thing. E.g. A boy wants to see you. In a similar case with a noun in the plural form the indefinite pronoun “some” is used. E.g. Some boys want to see you.

All the above mentioned functions of the indefinite article can exist separately or in combination with each other. In the sentence “There was a moon” the indefinite article has 2 functions: the communicating & the aspective.