by Christopher Lyons (Author), Lyons Christopher (Author), S. R. Anderson (Editor)

Definiteness is the concept expressed by definite articles such as "the", and also by other expressions such as demonstratives ("this", "that") and personal pronouns. This textbook surveys such expressions in the many languages of the world, and also examines the theoretical literature on this aspect of grammar, to establish what definiteness is and how languages can express it.