The Category of Definiteness and Indefiniteness

The noun in English and Ukrainian possesses the semantic category of definiteness and indefiniteness. In other words, when a noun (even a proper name) or family/geographical name is taken out of its context to which it belonged, its meaning may not be definitely understood, i.e. identified. Thus, the proper names Mykola, Petro or Anatoliy when used for the first time (eg. I met Petro/Mykola yesterday evening) may not be definite enough for the listener or collocutor who may inquire: which Petro/Mykola?

The category of definiteness and indenfiniteness may be identified in English and Ukrainian both at language level (when the noun is out of a concrete context) and at speech level, i.e. in oral presentation or in a written microtext. The main means of making the noun definite in English is to use the definite or indefinite (zero) article or any other determining or identifying adjunct. For example: Bristol (zero article) means the town of Bristol, whereas the Bristol is the name of a hotel or an inn, ship, etc. Similarly even with such a proper noun as Україна which, when used without the definite article, means the country of Ukraine, but when presented in inverted commas it will mean any-thing: готель "Україна", концертний зал "Україна" or an agricultural enterprise "Україна". The definite article may also determine, i.e. make definite some other groups (or single) nouns as, for example, those denoting generic nouns or unique objects on the globe, or even in the universe as in the following sentences: The lion is a wild animal. The sun is a bright celestial body.

The category of definiteness may be also indicated by syntactic, i.e. lexico-syntactic means. Namely, by an appositive noun or a substantivised numeral, an adjective or any other adjunct: Cf.: the Tory government, King Henry V, the first Summit meeting, уряд торі, король Генріх П'ятий, готель "Колос", дівчина-парашутистка, перша зустріч у верхах, четвертий універсал уряду УНР, etc. Hence, the categories of definiteness and indefiniteness may be expressed both by preposed and postposed identifiers simultaneously (as in the last example четвертий > універсал < уряду УНР). Or such an example: the noun congress or its Ukrainian variant з'їзд when used out of a context remains absolutely non-related to any concretely identified event. Even when preceded by a numeral (the first or the second congress) it remains far from semantically identified. Only when explicated by one more identifier - the first congress of ecologists, the noun congress becomes more or less exhaustively identified. Similarly in Ukrainian where the noun з'їзд becomes definite (or indefinite) when it is explicitly identified: з'їзд екологів, з'їзд екологів України, черговий/ позачерговий з'їзд екологів України, etc.

The category of indefiniteness apart from being indicated in English by the indefinite article a/an, may also be made explicit by the indefinite pronouns any, some, etc., and by the numeral one as well as by the indefinite article plus an adjectival, participial or any other adjunct. Eg: There is some boy wants to see you. (King) "Was there a Mr Palgrave?" (H.E. Bates) — "there's a marvellously good restau-rant called L'Ocean about six or seven miles down the coast". (Ibid.) Cf. in Ukrainian: Там ніякого містера Палґрейва не було?

The expression of indefiniteness in Ukrainian is likewise realised with the help of the indefinite pronouns якийсь (якась, якесь), through the indefinite numeral один (одна, одне) or via the indefinite pronouns якийсь/ якась, якесь plus the adjuncts expressing the characteristic features of the person or object. Eg: Якийсь Петренко там чекає на вас.

Unlike English where indefiniteness is expressed via the corresponding markers, in Ukrainian it may sometimes be expressed also through grammatical shifting of the indefinite noun into the final position of the sentence. For example:

The door opened and the teacher entered the classroom. Двері відчинилися і вчитель увійшов до класу.

То express indefiniteness, the noun will be shifted to the final position:

The door opened and a teacher entered the classroom. Двері відчинилися і до класу ввійшов учитель.

Therefore, the category of definitess and indefiniteness is equally pertained to both contrasted languages.