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5. Formation of the article
The question of the nature of the article was covered in early English
descriptive (pre-normative) grammars of the 16th century. and continues to be
actively studied in our time. He outlined the history of the issue in a general form
in his dissertation research. Briefly, it boils down to the following. In the XVI -
XVIII centuries. the article was considered as a sign of a noun, which stood out
among other parts of speech mainly on this basis. At the end of the XVI century.
there was another concept, according to which the article was considered as a kind
of adjective. In the 17th century, in addition, some grammarians considered the
article to be an independent part of speech. In the same period, more particular
interpretations were also quite common: the article is a certain property of a noun,
the article is a certain determiner, the article is a particle. notes that the terms
"definite" and "indefinite" were introduced by J. Howell in 1662 [4]
In the XVII - XVIII centuries. most grammarians of the indefinite article as
the main one singled out the indefinitely classifying meaning, as the accompanying
- quantitative. The definite article has a demonstrative meaning. In the XVIII
century. normative grammars, not limited to the description of linguistic facts, seek
to establish linguistic norms and rules. At the same time, two concepts are
developed regarding the essence of the article. According to one, it is an
independent part of fragments of a narrative text, a situation that is being formed
(the indefinite article) or that has been formed (the definite article). Therefore, the
use of articles is to some extent an indicator of the literary genre. In the XX
century. The article is still not recognized by all grammarians as an independent
part of speech. J. Kerm, for example, does not include the article among the parts
of speech he lists, but considers the use of articles only in connection with the
classification of nouns. In particular, he states the importance of using the definite
article with proper names in the plural form. O. Jespersen refers the article to
pronouns and includes the definite article in the subclass of demonstrative
pronouns, and the indefinite article in the subclass of indefinite pronouns.
Already in the language of the Old English period, the demonstrative
pronouns masculine sē, feminine sēo and neuter đ1t usually acted as functional
words indicating the private, singular nature of the object denoted by the noun with
which they were used, for example: đ1t land - land (definite).
Over time, the clarifying function of the named demonstrative pronouns has
been even more widely developed, while their function as demonstrative pronouns.
Simultaneously with the development of a new meaning, the form of the
named pronouns also changed. It has a slightly different character in dialects, but
nevertheless it can be noted that the formation of a single form in the northern
dialects took place faster than in the central and southern dialects.
One of the first changes was the elimination of suppletiveness, which exists
in the nominative singular masculine and feminine, which was expressed in the
replacement of the root with the initial s - (in the forms sē and sēo) by đ, which
gave đē and đēo. The forms đē and đēo, due to the contraction of the diphthong ēo
in ē, coincided in the 12th century. The forms of case and gender gradually lost
their differences, firstly, due to the loss of the category of grammatical gender by
the language.
As a result of all these processes, the definite article in the period of the XII-
XIV centuries turned into the invariable word the, which exists in the modern
language.
Closely connected with the development of the definite article was the
development of the indefinite article as a clarifying word to indicate the
generalized nature of the noun.
The material for the formation of the indefinite article was the Old English
numeral ǎn - one, which already at the end of the Old English period began to be
used not only as a numeral, but also as a word indicating the generalized nature of
the noun. In this meaning, ǎn is in an unstressed position in the flow of speech. In
this position, the long [a:] was shortened into a short [a], as a result of which the
numeral ǎn split into two words: the numeral ǎn, which in the 12th century gave
oon and later one, and the indefinite article an, which was preserved in the
language of the early Middle English period. [one; 135]
In the 13th-14th centuries, in connection with the onset of the process of
dropping n in unstressed syllables, the sound [n] dropped out in the form an in
those cases when it was followed by words beginning with a consonant, but
remained before words beginning with a vowel. This feature of the use of the
forms of the article a and an exists in the language to this day.
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