This article explores the grammaticalisation of the grammar category of definite articles. It explains that the grammaticalisation process that leads to the development of articles which exhibits cross-linguistic regularities. In most cases, the definite article originates from a weakened demonstrative, while the indefinite article derives from the unity numeral ‘one’. This article also discusses the morphosyntactic role of noun marker or noun phrase marker in the grammaticalisation of definite articles.
A grammaticalization process, by which an item shifts from lexicon to grammar, is by definition a cline or a continuum. Consequently, items undergoing grammaticalization processes can occupy different positions on the cline between its two extremes. The main claim we want to argue for in this thematic issue is that the same idea of gradation can be extended to language typology, by showing that, within a language family, comparable grammaticalization phenomena can be at the outset or on-going in one language and have reached a stage further down the cline in another language, or even that grammaticalization phenomena present in one language may be absent in the other one. Thus, with respect to Romance, several authors, such as
This article analyses the variation in degrees of grammaticalisation across languages. It proposes the hypothesis that an essential property of grammaticalisation also applies within a genealogical family and that several grammaticalization processes may be more advanced in one language than in the other languages of the same family. It provides evidence from three Romance languages and shows that French, has reached a further stage of grammaticalisation than Spanish and Italian.
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