On the article–like use of the indefinite determiners jedan and neki in Croatian and other Slavic languages
On the article–like use of the indefinite determiners jedan and neki in Croatian and other Slavic languages

Summary/Abstract: In Slavic languages the indefinite determiners can have the determining function of the indefinite article and therefore function as a grounding element within a nominal, a fact that is either neglected or misinterpreted in grammar books. This paper thus addresses the issue of the article–like use of the indefinite determiners in Slavic languages, with special emphasis on Croatian jedan and neki. Further attention is devoted to Bulgarian, Macedonian and Upper Sorbian, the languages in which the indefinite determiner, which developed from the numeral ’one’, has been grammaticalized to the extent that it can be used as an indefinite article not only in indefinite specific, but in indefinite non–specific and, when it comes to Upper Sorbian, generic contexts as well. The paper focuses on different properties of the article–like use of the indefinite determiners, e.g. their distribution or ability to combine with hierarchically lower means of grounding. These properties are consistent with the properties of the indefinite articles in languages that have fully grammaticalized this grammatical category. The theoretical framework employed in this paper is that of functional–typological approaches to language and, to some extent, Cognitive Grammar.

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