The Usage of Definite and Indefinite Articles in English and Romanian
The Usage of Definite and Indefinite Articles in English and Romanian

Summary/Abstract: Although the roles of the definite and indefinite articles in English and Romanian are broadly similar, when examined in detail, their usage in these two languages differs in ways that can be puzzling to the non-native speaker. This paper examines the differences between the uses and non-uses of the definite and indefinite articles in English and Romanian with the purpose of comparing how each language maps determinacy and definiteness to meaning. While some differences are syntax-driven, the focus of the paper is on semantic differences. Since the use of articles (and determiners in general) is subject to various restrictions in the case of uncountable nouns, this paper examines several semantic classes of nouns: countable concrete nouns, mass nouns, and post-verbal and post-adjectival abstract nouns.The most obvious differences in the use of articles in English and Romanian arise when it comes to reference to kind (Carlson 1980 [1977]), which is achieved in English by using bare nouns and in Romanian by using nouns with definite articles. A more subtle difference is driven by the association in Romanian between bare nouns and situations where nouns have predicative readings. Based on these findings, the paper concludes that the fundamental typological difference between English and Romanian insofar as the usage of articles is concerned lies in how each language exploits the contrast between determined and undetermined (bare) nouns to convey meaning: English uses this contrast to distinguish between reference to entities and reference to kind, while Romanian uses it to mark the predicative (rather than referential) use of nouns.

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