Paprastųjų ir įvardžiuotinių būdvardžių opozicija lietuvių kalboje
The Opposition of Short and Pronominal Forms of The Lithuanian Adjective as a Definiteness System

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the so-called pronominal forms of Lithuanian adjectivals in relation with definiteness. The pronominal morpheme added to the adjectival form is interpreted as a marker of definiteness, comparable to the definite article of other languages, and it is suggested that the adjectival forms themselves should be called definite. The aim of the article is to establish to what extent and in what contexts the use of these definite forms correlates with the semantic definiteness of the NP. An empirical investigation shows that in many cases the use of the definite adjective is at best optional, sometimes even ungrammatical, though the NP clearly functions as a definite description. This points to a major difference between the use of Lithuanian definite adjectives and the marking of definiteness in article languages. In Lithuanian the context is decisive for the definite or indefinite interpretation of the NP, and the selection of definite and indefinite adjectival forms depends, among other things, on information structure, i. e., on whether the adjective contains known (presupposed) or new information.

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