Word order of definite articles

Definite articles, whether independent words or affixes, appear either before or after the noun or NP they modify. Items that express meaning instead of or beyond definiteness generally do not constitute definite articles, such as demonstratives, gender markers, and topic markers.[1]

Values:

NoDefArt: The language does not have definite articles.

DefN: The definite article precedes the noun or NP.

NDef: The definite article follows the noun or NP.

 

[1] In some cases, it may be difficult to differentiate between a definite article and a topic marker. The grammatical features of the language and the given semantic or pragmatic context may offer clarification. For example, if the word in question does not appear when the noun is definite and not the topic of the sentence, then the word is clearly a topic marker, rather than a definite article. (Translation can also offer a useful strategy in determining whether a given noun is definite. If the noun requires a definite article even in non-topical position when translated to a language in which definite articles exist, it is almost certainly definite.)