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From: mcv@inter.NL.net (Miguel Carrasquer)
Subject: Re: Indefinite article - THE EXAMPLE!!!
Message-ID: <CxIKu0.9n4@inter.NL.net>
Organization: NLnet
References: <cto.780911438@olicom> <cto.781367832@olicom> <372ekn$p0d@mother.usf.edu> <aldersonCxH0L2.DC3@netcom.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 1994 15:10:47 GMT
Lines: 28

In article <aldersonCxH0L2.DC3@netcom.com>,
Richard M. Alderson III <alderson@netcom.com> wrote:
>In article <372ekn$p0d@mother.usf.edu> millert@grad.csee.usf.edu
>(Timothy Miller) writes:
>
>>If Latin had no articles, where did the ones in Spanish, French, Italian, and
>>other Latin derivatives come from?
>
>The definite articles derive from demonstrative adjectives ("that man" > "the
>man"), usually from ille/illa/illud, though Sardinian (and apparently to some
>extent Catalan) used ipse/ipsa/ipsud instead.
>

The use of `ipse' as an article is an insular thing in the Romance
languages: it's only alive now in Sardininan (Log. su, sa; sos, sas,
Camp. su, sa; is, is), in some southern Sicilian dialects and on the
Lipari islands, and in Balearic Catalan (es/so, sa; ets/sos, ses).
The "salat" dialect of Catalan (spoken along the Costa Brava) also
has it, but the use of "es, sa" there has almost died out.
The Catalan dialect spoken in Sardinia, in the town of Alguer
(L'Alghero) uses "lu, la", despite the Sardic influence.
The use of `ipse'-derived articles was more widespread once: it can
be seen in old (Continental) Catalan and Gascon manuscripts as well.

-- 
Miguel Carrasquer         ____________________  ~~~
Amsterdam                [                  ||]~  
mcv@inter.NL.net         ce .sig n'est pas une .cig 
