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Definiteness and the usage of articles

This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 1 Mar 2021, 19:57.

[comments] vtlqearticle Vandalonian (7 articles)

[Public] ? ?

1. Articles in Vandalon ? ?

2. Case in Vandalon ? ?

3. Du Hobbite 1.1 ? ?

4. Possession in Vandalon ? ?

5. Vandalon Loanwords ? ?

6. Vandalon Number ? ?

7. Vandalon Sound Changes: Verb Coda ? ?

+ Write new article in Vandalonian

Like many European languages,

Vandalon has definite and indefinite articles.

Indefinite articles
Indefinite articles exist only in singular. Thy agree with the defined word in gender, but bear no case marking.

	Masc.	Fem.
Sing.	un [œ̃(.n)]	une [yn]

For the few exception words that preserved the Neutral gender, the indefinite article coincides with the Masculine.

Definite articles
Formally, definite articles also exist only for singular. They agree with the defined word in gender and bear case marking.

	DIR	OBL
Sg. Masc.	du [dy]	de [də]
Sg. Fem.	de [də]	du [dy]

The neuter article et for exception words (see Vandalon Gender) is declinated by 3-case scheme with Nominative and Accusative et and Dative en (see Case in Vandalon).

Plural
The plural article is attached to all words in plural in

Vandalon. Strictly speaking, it is not an article any more, but rather the plurality marker. It is the same for all genders, and bears the case marking:

	DIR	OBL
Plur.	dé [de]	des [de(.z)]

POI: The fates of the plurals

The plural definite article eventually became prepositioned to all words in plural - a development caused by the disappearance of the number marking on nouns in most cases in the spoken Late Middle and Early Modern Vandalon. Their function of definiteness distinction was lost.

Interestingly, the fact that there was no plural indefinite article in Old Vandalon was known to the educated class. This led - in mimicking the speech of the olden days - to the practice of facultative dropping of the plural articles in elevated and poetic speech, lasting up to the early XX century. From the late XVIII century onwards, though, this dropping didn't seem to follow any set rules other than the speaker's taste.

Starting in working class argot as early as in 1890's and increasingly form 1970's, there is a tendency in the spoken Vandalon to drop the plural article entirely, eventually retaining final initial [z] before a word starting with vowel in oblique case:

"J'éprache à bernes" [ʒ‿e.pʁa.ʃ‿a bɛʁn] - "I speak to (the) children", instead of literary: "J'éprache à des bernes" [ʒ‿e.pʁa.ʃ‿a de bɛʁn];
but:
"J'éprache à 's eutres" [ʒ‿e.pʁa.ʃ‿a z‿øtʁ] - "I speak to (the) parents", instead of literary: "J'éprache à des eutres" [ʒ‿e.pʁa.ʃ‿a de.z‿øtʁ].

It appears that this drop of plural article slowly becomes a new plurality marker, and this development may well become a literary norm in

Vandalon by the end of XXI century. For now, though, including the plural article remains mandatory in the written language. ✎ Edit Article ✖ Delete Article

Comments

[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 04-Jul-23 11:20 [Deactivated User]

@Qortish
Thanks mate! I didn't even notice how it ended in over 10 years of work being invested in it.

In the last months I've been busy Frenchifying Vandalon even further, while keeping as Germanic as it goes. I call it "The Great Vandalon Verb Purge", and in essence it is applying the evolution of verb endings from Classic Latin to French to Proto-Germanic verb endings.

Lemme check your language too though :D

[link] [quote] [move] [edit] [del] 04-Jul-23 09:07 [Deactivated User]

I like your conlang, is looks very French, I have a Germanlang that has French and Nordic influence. But your language looks nice.