Weak definiteness and learning of the definite article

Abstract

This paper aims at explaining why weak uses of the definite article in languages like Spanish represent a pitfall for foreign students. Though such uses are a part of the system of regular uses governed by the uniqueness condition, they are largely unpredictable, due to the role of cultural stereotypes and to competition with bare nouns as alternative forms to express the same content. Weak uses constitute the point where the grammaticalization process of the article typically stops, in particular in positions governed by verbs and prepositions, thus giving rise to highly irregular patterns that cannot be derived from a unique semantic principle.