The definite determiner in Early Middle English: What happened with þe?

Abstract

This paper offers new data bearing on the question of when English developed a definite article, distinct from the distal demonstrative. It focuses primarily on one criterion that has been used in dating this development, namely the inability of þe (Modern English the, the refl ex of the demonstrative se) to be used as a pronoun. I argue that this criterion is not a satisfactory one and propose a treatment of þe as a form which could occupy either the head D of DP or the specifier of DP. This is an approach consistent with Crisma’s(2011) position that a definite article emerged within the Old English (OE)period. I offer a new piece of evidence supporting Crisma’s demonstration of a difference between OE poetry and the prose of the ninth century and later.