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From: kriha_p@actrix.gen.nz (Paul J. Kriha)
Subject: Re: The logic of "and" and "but"
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Date: Mon, 27 Feb 1995 00:56:24 GMT
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andre@shappski.demon.co.uk (Andre Shapps) wrote:
>In article: <3il3p5$ov2@ss1.cam.nist.gov>  koontz@cam.nist.gov (John E
>Koontz) writes:

[...]

>> Apart from articles, there are other ways to mark definiteness or
>> specificity, etc., e.g., word order or case (of, e.g., direct object)
>> and languages exist which don't mark them at all.

I never really thought much about this till now.  :-)
Why is it that in English the articles sometimes convey important
information and in some other languages like Czech or Russian I
never really miss them. And yet the need to express definiteness/specificity
is often quite important.

I think the answer is that Slavic languages use prepositions like
"ten/ta/to" (3 genders of "this"), "tamten/tamta/tamto"
(3 genders of "that over there"), etc. to express definitiveness.

If explicit indefinitiveness is called for they use "nejaky/a/e" (some) etc.

Most of the time though it is not necessary to express either so
the nouns live quite happily without any articles.


"Podej mi nuz."
Pass me a knife.

"Ktery chces?"
Which one?

"Podej mi NEJAKY nuz."   or  "Podej mi JAKYKOLI nuz."
Pass me _a_ (or _any_) knife.

"Tak tedy, podej mi TEN nuz!"
So then, pass me the/that knife!  (the one we talked about)

"Tak tedy, podej mi TAMTEN nuz!"
So then, pass me the knife, the one over there!"


Paul JK


