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.