Articles
Articles are crucial for specifying a noun's reference—whether it's known, unknown, abstract, or collective.
Arcadia features four distinct articles, each serving a unique grammatical and semantic function:
- Definite (
la) → Identifies a specific entity or concept that both speaker and listener recognize.- la leonis → "The lion"
- Anaphoric (
le) → Refers to a previously mentioned or contextually salient entity.- le leonis → "The lion we talked about earlier"
- Weak Indefinite (
a) → Indicates a non-specific or generic noun, akin to "any" or the zero article.- a leonis → "Any lion"
- Strong Indefinite (
e) → Points to a specific entity known to the speaker but unknown to the listener.- e leonis → "A lion"
Articles do not inflect for case or grammatical class, but they do adjust based on the number of the noun they modify.
Articles with Other Determiners
Articles interact with determiners to refine specificity:
- tre homisis → "three people"
- las tre homisis → "the three specific people"
They can also convert proper nouns into common references, indicating a person named something:
- e adamon → "a person named Adam"
Examples in Context
1. Basic Proper Noun Usage
konvenivo adamon.
- Translation: "I met Adam."
- Explanation: The speaker refers to a known proper noun, so no article is needed.
2. Anaphoric Reference
konvenivo le adamon.
- Translation: "I met the Adam (we discussed earlier)."
- Explanation: Uses Anaphoric
leto specify which Adam is meant.
3. Indefinite Proper Noun
konvenivo e adamon.
- Translation: "I met a guy named Adam."
- Explanation: Uses Strong Indefinite
e, implying the listener does not know Adam yet.
Pronunciation Adjustments
To smooth pronunciation, articles that contain more that one phoneme undergo elision when placed before nouns starting with the same vowel. This elision is marked with an apostrophe, and no space is left between the article and noun. The articles that are a single phoneme do not undergo elision, but add a "l" instead.
la amighos→l'amighos, "the friend"e enginis→el enginis, "a machine"
Declension Tables
Definite Article (la)
| Number | Article |
|---|---|
| Singular | la |
| Fractional | lad |
| Plural | las |
Anaphoric Article (le)
| Number | Article |
|---|---|
| Singular | le |
| Fractional | led |
| Plural | les |
Weak Indefinite Article (a)
| Number | Article |
|---|---|
| Singular | a |
| Fractional | ad |
| Plural | as |
Strong Indefinite Article (e)
| Number | Article |
|---|---|
| Singular | e |
| Fractional | ed |
| Plural | es |