Definite: definiteness or state
| Values: | Def | Ind | Spec |
In Classical Armenian, definiteness is a lexical feature of some pronouns, pronominal adjectives ([determiners] (xcl-pos/DET)), adverbs as well as of the adposition զ=/z= marking the referentially prominent direct object. The feature has three values: non-specific indefinite, specific indefinite, and definite.
Ind: indefinite
The value Ind is interpreted as non-specific indefinite and characterizes indefinite pronouns/determiners ոք/okʻ “anyone”(pronoun) and “any” (pronominal adjective), ինչ/inčʻ “something; anything” (which may occasionally have specific indefinite meaning), and indefinite adverbs երբեք/erbekʻ “at any time”, ուրեք/owrekʻ “anywhere”, and ուստեք/owstekʻ “from anywhere”.
Examples
- indefinite pronoun: ոք/okʻ “anyone” (pronoun)
- indefinite pronominal adjective: ոք/okʻ “any” (pronominal adjective)
- indefinite non-specific adverb: երբեք/erbekʻ “at any time”
Spec: specific indefinite
The value Spec is interpreted as non-specific indefinite and characterizes pronouns/pronominal adjectives ոմն/omn “someone; some”, իմն/imn “something” (rare, mostly substituted by ինչ/inčʻ), մի/mi “certain”, and an indifinite adverbs երբեմն/erbemn “at some time” and ուրեմն/owremn “somewhere”.
Examples
- specific indefinite pronoun: ոմն/omn “someone”, ինչ/inčʻ “something”
- specific indefinite determiner: մի/mi “certain”
Def: definite
The value Def is interpreted as definite and characterizes enclitic determiners =ս/=s “this (mine)”, =դ/=d “that (your)”, =ն/=n “that (their)” (Klein 1996). It is also assigned to the adposition զ=/z= when it marks the referentially prominent direct object (Müth 2011).
Examples
- enclitic determiners: =ն/=n “that (their)”
- adposition of definite object: զ=/z=
References
Jensen, Hans. 1959. Altarmenische Grammatik. Heidelberg: Winter.
Klein, Jared S. 1996. On Personal Deixis in Classical Armenian. A Study of the Syntax and Semantics of the n-, s-, and d-Demonstratives in Manuscripts E and M of the Old Armenian Gospels. Dettelbach: Röll, 1996.
Klein, Jared S. 1997. Indefinite Pronouns, Polarity, and Related Phenomena in Classical Armenian: A Study Based on the Old Armenian Gospels. Transactions of the Philological Society 95/2: 189-245.
Meillet, Antoine. 1913. Altarmenisches Elementarbuch. Heidelberg: Winters (Internet Archive).
Müth, Angelika. 2011. Categories of definiteness in Classical Armenian. In: E. Welo (ed.) Indo-European syntax and pragmatics: contrastive approaches. Oslo Studies in Language 3(3), 2011: 11–25.
Definite in other languages: [bej] [bg] [el] [en] [es] [fr] [ga] [hu] [hy] [it] [ky] [myv] [pcm] [pt] [qpm] [sga] [sl] [sv] [tr] [u] [urj]