ON THE MATTER OF THE GRAMMATICALIZATION OF THE INDEFINITE ARTICLE IN BULGARIAN THROUGH THE JUXTAPOSITION BETWEEN ENGLISH AND ITALIAN

Abstract

The object of the current study concerns the morphological category of determination in Bulgarian, English and Italian. More specifically, the paper deals with the unmarked member of the category – indefiniteness, and the juxtaposition between Bulgarian and the two Western-European languages suggests a number of efficient views on the uses of един (edin) ‘one’ as an alleged marker of indefiniteness. Some of the most prolific cases are included in the study, then a number of examples are introduced and, finally, using the method of statistics, a conclusion is made on the matter.