A, an, and the are perhaps the most commonly used words in the English language. Ironically, these small, (even invisible the zero article) seemingly innocuous words are also among the most perplexing for linguists, students, and teachers. One of the central problems seems to be in defining the structural role of the article system. What kinds of words are articles? What are their structural characteristics?
Grammarians have tended to describe them as "markers" which denote a variety of qualities such as definiteness or indefiniteness. Mizuno (1993a) offers a clear definition in which articles are considered as function words, not content words, that carry meaning. He states the meaning is difficult to describe outside of the context in which articles are used. Mizuno believes that in order to master such function words, one has to have a thorough grasp of their linguistic function theme, rheme, information, cohesion, and deixis (p.3).
The issue of context cannot be divorced from a discussion of article usage. We will use an example to illustrate this. Most grammars will generally state that proper nouns are definite. CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman state that proper nouns "are inherently definite" by definition (p.172). Such rigid statements might tend to exclude the possibility of exceptions in the minds of many ESL/EFL students. The difficulty with such statements is that in different contexts these rules sometimes do change. When we think about it, we make exceptions to this "rule" every day in real speech. For example, when individuals have the same name or when things are similar to individuals denoted by their names, proper nouns can be treated as common nouns, as in two Marys, Einsteins, and Judases (Mizuno,1993b.).
In order to recognize the use of a proper noun as a common noun, it is necessary to understand the context in which the noun is used. The same seems to hold true in other examples as well.
Such an important point has significant repercussions when discussing the pedagogical implications of grammar instruction. According to Pica, "article use may have more to do with communication & communicative competence than with grammar & linguistic competence" (Pica, 1983, p. 222). We believe that instruction of articles without treatment of context is often untenable. For example:
The German is always punctual.
Does this statement indicate one particular German or Germans in general? When these types of sentencelevel examples are extracted from context, they tend to result in ambiguity.
Most reference grammars illustrate the decision process for article choice as a hierarchical system in which the following "ifthen" conditions are processed. CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman (1983) illustrate the system as shown in this table (p.172) :
This is perhaps the most common type of explanation for article choice found in grammar books. However, other scholars have proposed new schema for dealing with issues of article choice.
Mizuno (1993a) describes the process of choosing an article as binary, in that there are levels of test criteria which can only be answered with a "yes" or "no". According to Mizuno, there are four criterion levels:
1) Discourse Labeling (Is the object new to the discourse?)
2) Numeric Labeling (Is the object countable?)
3) Class Labeling (Is the object plural or singular?)
4) Phonetic Labeling (Does the noun which follows begin with a vowel?)
Master (1990) also proposes a binary system but his rationale for article choice is based not on "yes" or "no" decisions, but on the concepts of "identification" or "classification". Master states that determining the correct article requires a consideration of definiteness (+ definite), specificity (+specificity), countability (+ count) and number (+ singular). Master suggests collapsing these categories into a system in which + definite and + specificity would become "identified", taking the definite article. The cases of definite and specific would be considered "classified" (p.465). Master also claims that this system has pedagogical advantages because teachers can introduce the dichotomies of "identification" and classification" before introducing the article system (p.468).
The difficulties in teaching the English article system exist not due to a lack of attention on the part of researchers and grammarians. In the course of this project we have reviewed several grammar texts finding both commonality and divergence. These are the grammar texts that we reviewed: CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman (1983), Byrd and Benson (1989,1992, 1994), Quirk and Greenbaum (1990), Rutherford (1987), Close (1977), and Stockwell (1973). In general, this limited review of the literature showed 1) great divergence in the amount of attention given to articles or determiners as well as 2) variation in the focus on the importance of context. Rules of article use are found in most grammar and ESL textbooks for all levels, regardless of the student's proficiency level or goal. Pica (1983) notes that there are five general rules highlighted in ESL textbooks. These rules include:
We can say that some of the issues with articles are fairly easy for teachers to explain and students to understand, i.e. first and second mention, use of a versus an, etc. Difficulties arise with these concepts:
The difficulties that arise between the generic and specific can be illustrated by the following examples:
I have a computer disk.
A computer disk is used to store information.
In the first example, the speaker is referring to a specific computer disk; in the second sentence, the speaker is referring to a computer disk as a generic. However, the same article a is used in both examples. This tends to illustrate the problematic nature of having one form for multiple functions (McEldowney,1977). On the other hand, the inverse also seems to be a problem in that multiple forms can be used to fulfill the same function.
1. The American is a good debater.
2. An American is a good debater.
3. The Americans are good debaters.
4. Americans are good debaters.
Depending on the context, the subject in each of the above can fulfill the same generic function (McEldowney,1977). However, in the next section we will see that these four patterns are limited.
The four examples given above are thought to be four patterns that express the generic form. However, these patterns do not fit for all nouns. In example 1. above, this pattern holds true for humans or animals, but it does not describe inanimate objects generically (CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman,1983). Thus, ESL students often produce incorrect sentences such as the following:
The book fills leisure time for many people (CelceMurcia and Larsen Freeman, 1983, p.1983).
Proper nouns are generally considered to be specific, taking either the zero or definite article. There are instances however when proper nouns are treated as common nouns as discussed earlier.
Place names also prove to be a problematic issue. Traditionally, the literature on place names has only been able to produce a "multiplicity of disparate and unmotivated rules" (Horowitz, 1989, p.84). There are no easy rules of thumb to remember which types of place names use the zero or the definite article. Currently, scholarteachers seem resigned to teaching from lists - with the exception of a few rough generalizations such as: the names of oceans, deserts, peninsulas, regions, and rivers tend to take a definite article (CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman,1983, p.176).
Abstract nouns are problematic in terms of countability. When used to express generality, they can have both a count and a noncount form (CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman, 1983). For example:
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Food is one of life's necessities.
One of the structural roles of the article system seems to be to provide reference and cohesion in written texts. This, perhaps, is the underlying problem for all the other areas of difficulty with articles as reference and cohesion are closely related to context. Context, in turn, has an important influence on article choice. The importance of the effect that article choice has on reference and cohesion can be seen in this piece of student writing:
This article is about a thrift store in the United States that has become a way of life for many college students… However, a thrift store in Bangkok is different from a thrift store in this article in the aim of establishment… Moreover, Bangkok thrift store is different from American thrift store in the idea that… (Zalewski,1993, p.696).
In this example, the meaning was not conveyed effectively because of article choice. The use of the indefinite article followed by the zero article makes the reader uncertain of whether the student was referring to a specific store or thrift stores in general.
We also found this type of problem in examples of our student's writing. In this piece of student writing the meaning is not as ambiguous; however, there are issues of clarity in terms of the effect the student is trying to have on the reader:
… It was hard to endure to subjugate that feeling. So, I ran away from my family and school. I just took and got on the train, and then left to somewhere. I didn't have the destination.
When the student uses "the train" instead of "a train", which might be the more common choice among native speakers, the readers are not sure if the student is trying to make the readers feel as if they are on a particular train that he is thinking of or whether this is an error. Zalewski (1993) states that these types of errors not only "put off" native speakers, but also interfere with the expression of the mental representation the student had.
We have outlined some examples of the major grammatical and pedagogical problems with nouns and articles cited in the literature. Although most grammar texts provide context on article use through exemplification, there seems to be a wide range of focus on context. Given an apparent linkage between grammar and context with article use, it could be posited that the more disjointed the context of the examples is, the less conducive the text is to illustrating article usage beyond the sentence level. This seems to be the key issue: are articles viewed as a sentence level or a discourse level construct? As CelceMurcia and LarsenFreeman (1983) state "...to a great extent, we depend on discourse context to determine what is definite and what is indefinite" (p.172). Rutherford further argues that just as the subject of a sentence is not governed by syntax but by discourse (e.g., the principle arrangement of old and new information), determiner choice comes from an interaction between grammar and discourse (Rutherford, 1987, p.59). Studying the article system from discourse rather than in isolation will perhaps prove to be the path to a better understanding of this elusive system.