Are there other languages, besides English, where the indefinite (or definite) article varies based on sound?Why is the definite article in Balkan languages always called a suffix when it really seems to be part of the inflection?Are there languages with indefinite articles but for which the word for “one” is not related etymologically to any of the indefinite articles?What is an “adjectival article”? Apparently Albanian “të” is oneWhy is the definite, indefinite, and partitive article grouped together?Is English the only language (except classical Latin, Cyrillic, symbol languages and auxiliary languages) that has no diacritic symbols/accents?Evolution of Definite Articles in Indo-European LanguagesWere/are there any languages that decline(d) articles but not nouns?“Den” or “det” in SwedishUnderstanding the purpose of determiners/articles/demonstratives in languageWhy is it thought that definite articles develop from deictic markers, and not the other way around?
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Are there other languages, besides English, where the indefinite (or definite) article varies based on sound?
Why is the definite article in Balkan languages always called a suffix when it really seems to be part of the inflection?Are there languages with indefinite articles but for which the word for “one” is not related etymologically to any of the indefinite articles?What is an “adjectival article”? Apparently Albanian “të” is oneWhy is the definite, indefinite, and partitive article grouped together?Is English the only language (except classical Latin, Cyrillic, symbol languages and auxiliary languages) that has no diacritic symbols/accents?Evolution of Definite Articles in Indo-European LanguagesWere/are there any languages that decline(d) articles but not nouns?“Den” or “det” in SwedishUnderstanding the purpose of determiners/articles/demonstratives in languageWhy is it thought that definite articles develop from deictic markers, and not the other way around?
I was talking today with an English co-worker about whether he says "an H-1B visa" or "a H-1B visa", which hinges on whether one says "aitch" or "haitch" for the letter H.
And I noticed that unlike other languages such as German or French or Romanian that change the indefinite article based on things like gender or case, in English we change the indefinite article based on the sound of the following word.
Are there other languages that change the indefinite or definite article based on what the following word sounds like?
list-of-languages articles indefinite-article
add a comment |
I was talking today with an English co-worker about whether he says "an H-1B visa" or "a H-1B visa", which hinges on whether one says "aitch" or "haitch" for the letter H.
And I noticed that unlike other languages such as German or French or Romanian that change the indefinite article based on things like gender or case, in English we change the indefinite article based on the sound of the following word.
Are there other languages that change the indefinite or definite article based on what the following word sounds like?
list-of-languages articles indefinite-article
7
In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
3
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04
add a comment |
I was talking today with an English co-worker about whether he says "an H-1B visa" or "a H-1B visa", which hinges on whether one says "aitch" or "haitch" for the letter H.
And I noticed that unlike other languages such as German or French or Romanian that change the indefinite article based on things like gender or case, in English we change the indefinite article based on the sound of the following word.
Are there other languages that change the indefinite or definite article based on what the following word sounds like?
list-of-languages articles indefinite-article
I was talking today with an English co-worker about whether he says "an H-1B visa" or "a H-1B visa", which hinges on whether one says "aitch" or "haitch" for the letter H.
And I noticed that unlike other languages such as German or French or Romanian that change the indefinite article based on things like gender or case, in English we change the indefinite article based on the sound of the following word.
Are there other languages that change the indefinite or definite article based on what the following word sounds like?
list-of-languages articles indefinite-article
list-of-languages articles indefinite-article
edited Mar 15 at 14:50
jknappen
11.6k22853
11.6k22853
asked Mar 15 at 13:56
KyralessaKyralessa
1243
1243
7
In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
3
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04
add a comment |
7
In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
3
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04
7
7
In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
3
3
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04
add a comment |
6 Answers
6
active
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In Italian, both the indefinite and the definite article change in spelling and pronunciation depending on the following sound, in the masculine gender.
Before vowels, the masculine indefinite article is un and the definite article is l' (elision of lo):
un albero (a tree), l'albero (the tree)
Before single consonants or consonants followed by semivowels or liquids, the masculine indefinite article is un but the definite article is il, and this includes the affricate consonants /t͡ʃ/ (spelled 'c' before 'i' or 'e') and /d͡ʒ/ (spelled 'g' before 'i' or 'e'):
un ramo (a branch), il ramo (the branch)
un fiore (a flower), il fiore (the flower)
un treno (a train), il treno (the train)
un cielo (a sky), il cielo (the sky)
un gioco (a game), il gioco (the game)
Before double consonants (generally 's' followed by a consonant, but other combinations arise in loanwords, especially of Greek origin, including with the double consonant 'x'), and before 'z' which is pronounced as the affricate /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, the masculine indefinite article is uno and the definite article is lo:
uno spazio (a space), lo spazio (the space)
uno psicologo (a psychologist), lo psicologo (the psychologist)
uno xilofono (a xylophone), lo xilofono (the xylophone)
uno zaino (a backpack), lo zaino (the backpack)
Feminine articles are una (indefinite) and la (definite), but they get elided into un' and l' before vowels:
una foglia (a leaf), la foglia (the leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), l'ombra (the shadow)
These changes are not dependent on the noun the article connects to, but the sound immediately following it, so for example we have:
l'albero (the tree), but il grande albero (the big tree)
un gioco (a game), but uno speciale gioco (a special game)
uno zaino (a backpack), but un piccolo zaino (a small backpack)
una foglia (a leaf), but un'altra foglia (another leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), but una cupa ombra (a dark shadow)
These behaviors can be at least partly explained by the phonotactics of Italian: whenever uno is used, the phonotactic constraints wouldn't allow for un unless the 'n' were dropped entirely; the same issue gives rise to lo instead of il, which look very different on the surface, but both come from different parts of the Latin word illum or illud (a demonstrative).
The elided forms with an apostrophe can be explained by a tendency to eschew hiatus.
add a comment |
A famous example is the Arabic language where the the definite article al assimilates to one half of the potential following consonants called Sun letters in Arabic grammar. So it is an-Nil "the Nile" or ash-shams "the sun", but al-qamar "the moon".
add a comment |
Quite similarly to Italian (see @LjL very complete answer) and a few other Romance languages, French does this for indefinite and definite articles, but not really the same way English does, in the sense that what we call "Liaison" is very common, though it rarely changes the writing of the articles.
Indefinite articles:
Un verre /œ̃ vɛʁ/ (a glass)
Un arbre /œ̃.n‿aʁbʁ/ (a tree)
Both mean "a" but the second one will have its N pronounced as a "transition" letter between the /œ̃/ and the /a/ to avoid hiatus. The writing is unchanged, though.
A similar process happens with the definite article:
Le verre /lə vɛʁ/ (the glass)
L'arbre /l‿aʁbʁ/ (the tree)
Here, "le" becomes "l'", again to avoid hiatus, but this time the writing changes to reflect the absence of the E.
I've only written a few examples, but this process also happens for a plethora of other articles, in a similar fashion.
Basically, it happens, but the writing only gets modified if a sound disappears completely because of the change.
add a comment |
Catalan masculine singular definite articles.
- /l/ before a vowel sound.
- /el/ before anything else.
What triggers this allomorphy is clearly the sound, not the letter, as we see l'interval /linteɾval/ but el iode /eljod/, because of the glide /j/. Also l'hivern /liveɾn/ but el hiat /eljat/.
I think it is pretty common to "change the indefinite or definite article (that's called allomorphy) based on what the following word sounds like" in many languages. Italian has three masculine singular definite articles, /el/, /lo/, and /l/, depending on the following sound. In English, the definite article the is pronounced /ðə/ or /ðiː/, sometimes even /ðɪ/.
Maybe the point of interest for you comes from the arbitrary insertion/dropping of /h/, not from the allomorphy.
add a comment |
Most of the famous examples in Europe and the Mediterranean have been mentioned, but we should add the languages where the definite article is simply a suffix, for example the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund, like Albanian and Romanian, and Armenian, which works very much like they do in this regard.
Turkish does not really have an article but objects are marked for definiteness with a suffix. In that case the connector varies but also the vowel, because of vowel harmony. So -u, -yu, -i... are all realisations of the same morpheme, and it varies according to a vowel that need not even be directly adjacent.
add a comment |
In Spanish, before a feminine noun with stressed initial /a/, the usual feminine singular definite article la has an alomorph el (which is identical to the masculine singular definite article).
- la vaca (f)
- el agua (f)
- el libro (m)
Why is “agua” masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? “El agua” / “Las aguas” (Spanish SE)
add a comment |
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In Italian, both the indefinite and the definite article change in spelling and pronunciation depending on the following sound, in the masculine gender.
Before vowels, the masculine indefinite article is un and the definite article is l' (elision of lo):
un albero (a tree), l'albero (the tree)
Before single consonants or consonants followed by semivowels or liquids, the masculine indefinite article is un but the definite article is il, and this includes the affricate consonants /t͡ʃ/ (spelled 'c' before 'i' or 'e') and /d͡ʒ/ (spelled 'g' before 'i' or 'e'):
un ramo (a branch), il ramo (the branch)
un fiore (a flower), il fiore (the flower)
un treno (a train), il treno (the train)
un cielo (a sky), il cielo (the sky)
un gioco (a game), il gioco (the game)
Before double consonants (generally 's' followed by a consonant, but other combinations arise in loanwords, especially of Greek origin, including with the double consonant 'x'), and before 'z' which is pronounced as the affricate /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, the masculine indefinite article is uno and the definite article is lo:
uno spazio (a space), lo spazio (the space)
uno psicologo (a psychologist), lo psicologo (the psychologist)
uno xilofono (a xylophone), lo xilofono (the xylophone)
uno zaino (a backpack), lo zaino (the backpack)
Feminine articles are una (indefinite) and la (definite), but they get elided into un' and l' before vowels:
una foglia (a leaf), la foglia (the leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), l'ombra (the shadow)
These changes are not dependent on the noun the article connects to, but the sound immediately following it, so for example we have:
l'albero (the tree), but il grande albero (the big tree)
un gioco (a game), but uno speciale gioco (a special game)
uno zaino (a backpack), but un piccolo zaino (a small backpack)
una foglia (a leaf), but un'altra foglia (another leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), but una cupa ombra (a dark shadow)
These behaviors can be at least partly explained by the phonotactics of Italian: whenever uno is used, the phonotactic constraints wouldn't allow for un unless the 'n' were dropped entirely; the same issue gives rise to lo instead of il, which look very different on the surface, but both come from different parts of the Latin word illum or illud (a demonstrative).
The elided forms with an apostrophe can be explained by a tendency to eschew hiatus.
add a comment |
In Italian, both the indefinite and the definite article change in spelling and pronunciation depending on the following sound, in the masculine gender.
Before vowels, the masculine indefinite article is un and the definite article is l' (elision of lo):
un albero (a tree), l'albero (the tree)
Before single consonants or consonants followed by semivowels or liquids, the masculine indefinite article is un but the definite article is il, and this includes the affricate consonants /t͡ʃ/ (spelled 'c' before 'i' or 'e') and /d͡ʒ/ (spelled 'g' before 'i' or 'e'):
un ramo (a branch), il ramo (the branch)
un fiore (a flower), il fiore (the flower)
un treno (a train), il treno (the train)
un cielo (a sky), il cielo (the sky)
un gioco (a game), il gioco (the game)
Before double consonants (generally 's' followed by a consonant, but other combinations arise in loanwords, especially of Greek origin, including with the double consonant 'x'), and before 'z' which is pronounced as the affricate /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, the masculine indefinite article is uno and the definite article is lo:
uno spazio (a space), lo spazio (the space)
uno psicologo (a psychologist), lo psicologo (the psychologist)
uno xilofono (a xylophone), lo xilofono (the xylophone)
uno zaino (a backpack), lo zaino (the backpack)
Feminine articles are una (indefinite) and la (definite), but they get elided into un' and l' before vowels:
una foglia (a leaf), la foglia (the leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), l'ombra (the shadow)
These changes are not dependent on the noun the article connects to, but the sound immediately following it, so for example we have:
l'albero (the tree), but il grande albero (the big tree)
un gioco (a game), but uno speciale gioco (a special game)
uno zaino (a backpack), but un piccolo zaino (a small backpack)
una foglia (a leaf), but un'altra foglia (another leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), but una cupa ombra (a dark shadow)
These behaviors can be at least partly explained by the phonotactics of Italian: whenever uno is used, the phonotactic constraints wouldn't allow for un unless the 'n' were dropped entirely; the same issue gives rise to lo instead of il, which look very different on the surface, but both come from different parts of the Latin word illum or illud (a demonstrative).
The elided forms with an apostrophe can be explained by a tendency to eschew hiatus.
add a comment |
In Italian, both the indefinite and the definite article change in spelling and pronunciation depending on the following sound, in the masculine gender.
Before vowels, the masculine indefinite article is un and the definite article is l' (elision of lo):
un albero (a tree), l'albero (the tree)
Before single consonants or consonants followed by semivowels or liquids, the masculine indefinite article is un but the definite article is il, and this includes the affricate consonants /t͡ʃ/ (spelled 'c' before 'i' or 'e') and /d͡ʒ/ (spelled 'g' before 'i' or 'e'):
un ramo (a branch), il ramo (the branch)
un fiore (a flower), il fiore (the flower)
un treno (a train), il treno (the train)
un cielo (a sky), il cielo (the sky)
un gioco (a game), il gioco (the game)
Before double consonants (generally 's' followed by a consonant, but other combinations arise in loanwords, especially of Greek origin, including with the double consonant 'x'), and before 'z' which is pronounced as the affricate /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, the masculine indefinite article is uno and the definite article is lo:
uno spazio (a space), lo spazio (the space)
uno psicologo (a psychologist), lo psicologo (the psychologist)
uno xilofono (a xylophone), lo xilofono (the xylophone)
uno zaino (a backpack), lo zaino (the backpack)
Feminine articles are una (indefinite) and la (definite), but they get elided into un' and l' before vowels:
una foglia (a leaf), la foglia (the leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), l'ombra (the shadow)
These changes are not dependent on the noun the article connects to, but the sound immediately following it, so for example we have:
l'albero (the tree), but il grande albero (the big tree)
un gioco (a game), but uno speciale gioco (a special game)
uno zaino (a backpack), but un piccolo zaino (a small backpack)
una foglia (a leaf), but un'altra foglia (another leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), but una cupa ombra (a dark shadow)
These behaviors can be at least partly explained by the phonotactics of Italian: whenever uno is used, the phonotactic constraints wouldn't allow for un unless the 'n' were dropped entirely; the same issue gives rise to lo instead of il, which look very different on the surface, but both come from different parts of the Latin word illum or illud (a demonstrative).
The elided forms with an apostrophe can be explained by a tendency to eschew hiatus.
In Italian, both the indefinite and the definite article change in spelling and pronunciation depending on the following sound, in the masculine gender.
Before vowels, the masculine indefinite article is un and the definite article is l' (elision of lo):
un albero (a tree), l'albero (the tree)
Before single consonants or consonants followed by semivowels or liquids, the masculine indefinite article is un but the definite article is il, and this includes the affricate consonants /t͡ʃ/ (spelled 'c' before 'i' or 'e') and /d͡ʒ/ (spelled 'g' before 'i' or 'e'):
un ramo (a branch), il ramo (the branch)
un fiore (a flower), il fiore (the flower)
un treno (a train), il treno (the train)
un cielo (a sky), il cielo (the sky)
un gioco (a game), il gioco (the game)
Before double consonants (generally 's' followed by a consonant, but other combinations arise in loanwords, especially of Greek origin, including with the double consonant 'x'), and before 'z' which is pronounced as the affricate /t͡s/ or /d͡z/, the masculine indefinite article is uno and the definite article is lo:
uno spazio (a space), lo spazio (the space)
uno psicologo (a psychologist), lo psicologo (the psychologist)
uno xilofono (a xylophone), lo xilofono (the xylophone)
uno zaino (a backpack), lo zaino (the backpack)
Feminine articles are una (indefinite) and la (definite), but they get elided into un' and l' before vowels:
una foglia (a leaf), la foglia (the leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), l'ombra (the shadow)
These changes are not dependent on the noun the article connects to, but the sound immediately following it, so for example we have:
l'albero (the tree), but il grande albero (the big tree)
un gioco (a game), but uno speciale gioco (a special game)
uno zaino (a backpack), but un piccolo zaino (a small backpack)
una foglia (a leaf), but un'altra foglia (another leaf)
un'ombra (a shadow), but una cupa ombra (a dark shadow)
These behaviors can be at least partly explained by the phonotactics of Italian: whenever uno is used, the phonotactic constraints wouldn't allow for un unless the 'n' were dropped entirely; the same issue gives rise to lo instead of il, which look very different on the surface, but both come from different parts of the Latin word illum or illud (a demonstrative).
The elided forms with an apostrophe can be explained by a tendency to eschew hiatus.
edited Mar 20 at 1:23
answered Mar 15 at 16:10
LjLLjL
848214
848214
add a comment |
add a comment |
A famous example is the Arabic language where the the definite article al assimilates to one half of the potential following consonants called Sun letters in Arabic grammar. So it is an-Nil "the Nile" or ash-shams "the sun", but al-qamar "the moon".
add a comment |
A famous example is the Arabic language where the the definite article al assimilates to one half of the potential following consonants called Sun letters in Arabic grammar. So it is an-Nil "the Nile" or ash-shams "the sun", but al-qamar "the moon".
add a comment |
A famous example is the Arabic language where the the definite article al assimilates to one half of the potential following consonants called Sun letters in Arabic grammar. So it is an-Nil "the Nile" or ash-shams "the sun", but al-qamar "the moon".
A famous example is the Arabic language where the the definite article al assimilates to one half of the potential following consonants called Sun letters in Arabic grammar. So it is an-Nil "the Nile" or ash-shams "the sun", but al-qamar "the moon".
edited Mar 15 at 14:54
answered Mar 15 at 14:48
jknappenjknappen
11.6k22853
11.6k22853
add a comment |
add a comment |
Quite similarly to Italian (see @LjL very complete answer) and a few other Romance languages, French does this for indefinite and definite articles, but not really the same way English does, in the sense that what we call "Liaison" is very common, though it rarely changes the writing of the articles.
Indefinite articles:
Un verre /œ̃ vɛʁ/ (a glass)
Un arbre /œ̃.n‿aʁbʁ/ (a tree)
Both mean "a" but the second one will have its N pronounced as a "transition" letter between the /œ̃/ and the /a/ to avoid hiatus. The writing is unchanged, though.
A similar process happens with the definite article:
Le verre /lə vɛʁ/ (the glass)
L'arbre /l‿aʁbʁ/ (the tree)
Here, "le" becomes "l'", again to avoid hiatus, but this time the writing changes to reflect the absence of the E.
I've only written a few examples, but this process also happens for a plethora of other articles, in a similar fashion.
Basically, it happens, but the writing only gets modified if a sound disappears completely because of the change.
add a comment |
Quite similarly to Italian (see @LjL very complete answer) and a few other Romance languages, French does this for indefinite and definite articles, but not really the same way English does, in the sense that what we call "Liaison" is very common, though it rarely changes the writing of the articles.
Indefinite articles:
Un verre /œ̃ vɛʁ/ (a glass)
Un arbre /œ̃.n‿aʁbʁ/ (a tree)
Both mean "a" but the second one will have its N pronounced as a "transition" letter between the /œ̃/ and the /a/ to avoid hiatus. The writing is unchanged, though.
A similar process happens with the definite article:
Le verre /lə vɛʁ/ (the glass)
L'arbre /l‿aʁbʁ/ (the tree)
Here, "le" becomes "l'", again to avoid hiatus, but this time the writing changes to reflect the absence of the E.
I've only written a few examples, but this process also happens for a plethora of other articles, in a similar fashion.
Basically, it happens, but the writing only gets modified if a sound disappears completely because of the change.
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Quite similarly to Italian (see @LjL very complete answer) and a few other Romance languages, French does this for indefinite and definite articles, but not really the same way English does, in the sense that what we call "Liaison" is very common, though it rarely changes the writing of the articles.
Indefinite articles:
Un verre /œ̃ vɛʁ/ (a glass)
Un arbre /œ̃.n‿aʁbʁ/ (a tree)
Both mean "a" but the second one will have its N pronounced as a "transition" letter between the /œ̃/ and the /a/ to avoid hiatus. The writing is unchanged, though.
A similar process happens with the definite article:
Le verre /lə vɛʁ/ (the glass)
L'arbre /l‿aʁbʁ/ (the tree)
Here, "le" becomes "l'", again to avoid hiatus, but this time the writing changes to reflect the absence of the E.
I've only written a few examples, but this process also happens for a plethora of other articles, in a similar fashion.
Basically, it happens, but the writing only gets modified if a sound disappears completely because of the change.
Quite similarly to Italian (see @LjL very complete answer) and a few other Romance languages, French does this for indefinite and definite articles, but not really the same way English does, in the sense that what we call "Liaison" is very common, though it rarely changes the writing of the articles.
Indefinite articles:
Un verre /œ̃ vɛʁ/ (a glass)
Un arbre /œ̃.n‿aʁbʁ/ (a tree)
Both mean "a" but the second one will have its N pronounced as a "transition" letter between the /œ̃/ and the /a/ to avoid hiatus. The writing is unchanged, though.
A similar process happens with the definite article:
Le verre /lə vɛʁ/ (the glass)
L'arbre /l‿aʁbʁ/ (the tree)
Here, "le" becomes "l'", again to avoid hiatus, but this time the writing changes to reflect the absence of the E.
I've only written a few examples, but this process also happens for a plethora of other articles, in a similar fashion.
Basically, it happens, but the writing only gets modified if a sound disappears completely because of the change.
answered Mar 15 at 21:22
zdimensionzdimension
1611
1611
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Catalan masculine singular definite articles.
- /l/ before a vowel sound.
- /el/ before anything else.
What triggers this allomorphy is clearly the sound, not the letter, as we see l'interval /linteɾval/ but el iode /eljod/, because of the glide /j/. Also l'hivern /liveɾn/ but el hiat /eljat/.
I think it is pretty common to "change the indefinite or definite article (that's called allomorphy) based on what the following word sounds like" in many languages. Italian has three masculine singular definite articles, /el/, /lo/, and /l/, depending on the following sound. In English, the definite article the is pronounced /ðə/ or /ðiː/, sometimes even /ðɪ/.
Maybe the point of interest for you comes from the arbitrary insertion/dropping of /h/, not from the allomorphy.
add a comment |
Catalan masculine singular definite articles.
- /l/ before a vowel sound.
- /el/ before anything else.
What triggers this allomorphy is clearly the sound, not the letter, as we see l'interval /linteɾval/ but el iode /eljod/, because of the glide /j/. Also l'hivern /liveɾn/ but el hiat /eljat/.
I think it is pretty common to "change the indefinite or definite article (that's called allomorphy) based on what the following word sounds like" in many languages. Italian has three masculine singular definite articles, /el/, /lo/, and /l/, depending on the following sound. In English, the definite article the is pronounced /ðə/ or /ðiː/, sometimes even /ðɪ/.
Maybe the point of interest for you comes from the arbitrary insertion/dropping of /h/, not from the allomorphy.
add a comment |
Catalan masculine singular definite articles.
- /l/ before a vowel sound.
- /el/ before anything else.
What triggers this allomorphy is clearly the sound, not the letter, as we see l'interval /linteɾval/ but el iode /eljod/, because of the glide /j/. Also l'hivern /liveɾn/ but el hiat /eljat/.
I think it is pretty common to "change the indefinite or definite article (that's called allomorphy) based on what the following word sounds like" in many languages. Italian has three masculine singular definite articles, /el/, /lo/, and /l/, depending on the following sound. In English, the definite article the is pronounced /ðə/ or /ðiː/, sometimes even /ðɪ/.
Maybe the point of interest for you comes from the arbitrary insertion/dropping of /h/, not from the allomorphy.
Catalan masculine singular definite articles.
- /l/ before a vowel sound.
- /el/ before anything else.
What triggers this allomorphy is clearly the sound, not the letter, as we see l'interval /linteɾval/ but el iode /eljod/, because of the glide /j/. Also l'hivern /liveɾn/ but el hiat /eljat/.
I think it is pretty common to "change the indefinite or definite article (that's called allomorphy) based on what the following word sounds like" in many languages. Italian has three masculine singular definite articles, /el/, /lo/, and /l/, depending on the following sound. In English, the definite article the is pronounced /ðə/ or /ðiː/, sometimes even /ðɪ/.
Maybe the point of interest for you comes from the arbitrary insertion/dropping of /h/, not from the allomorphy.
answered Mar 15 at 16:14
TaegyungTaegyung
32116
32116
add a comment |
add a comment |
Most of the famous examples in Europe and the Mediterranean have been mentioned, but we should add the languages where the definite article is simply a suffix, for example the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund, like Albanian and Romanian, and Armenian, which works very much like they do in this regard.
Turkish does not really have an article but objects are marked for definiteness with a suffix. In that case the connector varies but also the vowel, because of vowel harmony. So -u, -yu, -i... are all realisations of the same morpheme, and it varies according to a vowel that need not even be directly adjacent.
add a comment |
Most of the famous examples in Europe and the Mediterranean have been mentioned, but we should add the languages where the definite article is simply a suffix, for example the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund, like Albanian and Romanian, and Armenian, which works very much like they do in this regard.
Turkish does not really have an article but objects are marked for definiteness with a suffix. In that case the connector varies but also the vowel, because of vowel harmony. So -u, -yu, -i... are all realisations of the same morpheme, and it varies according to a vowel that need not even be directly adjacent.
add a comment |
Most of the famous examples in Europe and the Mediterranean have been mentioned, but we should add the languages where the definite article is simply a suffix, for example the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund, like Albanian and Romanian, and Armenian, which works very much like they do in this regard.
Turkish does not really have an article but objects are marked for definiteness with a suffix. In that case the connector varies but also the vowel, because of vowel harmony. So -u, -yu, -i... are all realisations of the same morpheme, and it varies according to a vowel that need not even be directly adjacent.
Most of the famous examples in Europe and the Mediterranean have been mentioned, but we should add the languages where the definite article is simply a suffix, for example the core languages of the Balkan Sprachbund, like Albanian and Romanian, and Armenian, which works very much like they do in this regard.
Turkish does not really have an article but objects are marked for definiteness with a suffix. In that case the connector varies but also the vowel, because of vowel harmony. So -u, -yu, -i... are all realisations of the same morpheme, and it varies according to a vowel that need not even be directly adjacent.
answered Mar 16 at 18:43
Adam BittlingmayerAdam Bittlingmayer
5,0411329
5,0411329
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add a comment |
In Spanish, before a feminine noun with stressed initial /a/, the usual feminine singular definite article la has an alomorph el (which is identical to the masculine singular definite article).
- la vaca (f)
- el agua (f)
- el libro (m)
Why is “agua” masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? “El agua” / “Las aguas” (Spanish SE)
add a comment |
In Spanish, before a feminine noun with stressed initial /a/, the usual feminine singular definite article la has an alomorph el (which is identical to the masculine singular definite article).
- la vaca (f)
- el agua (f)
- el libro (m)
Why is “agua” masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? “El agua” / “Las aguas” (Spanish SE)
add a comment |
In Spanish, before a feminine noun with stressed initial /a/, the usual feminine singular definite article la has an alomorph el (which is identical to the masculine singular definite article).
- la vaca (f)
- el agua (f)
- el libro (m)
Why is “agua” masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? “El agua” / “Las aguas” (Spanish SE)
In Spanish, before a feminine noun with stressed initial /a/, the usual feminine singular definite article la has an alomorph el (which is identical to the masculine singular definite article).
- la vaca (f)
- el agua (f)
- el libro (m)
Why is “agua” masculine in singular form and feminine in plural? “El agua” / “Las aguas” (Spanish SE)
answered Mar 19 at 12:41
ukemiukemi
1,840832
1,840832
add a comment |
add a comment |
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In French, the pronunciation (but not the spelling) of the masculine indefinite article un depends on the beginning of the following word, it is pronounced like une before a vowel. The definite article is shortened to l' before vowels. There are also unwritten pronunciation differences for the plural les.
– jknappen
Mar 15 at 14:53
3
Articles, being short, unstressed, and extremely common, are subject to lenition, contraction, reduction, and deletion in every language, including sharing segments, like a napron and an orange. In every language that has them. That goes, btw, for other short, unstressed, extremely common grammatical particles.
– jlawler
Mar 15 at 22:04