A familiar definite article in Akan

There is a long-standing debate on the nature of definiteness in natural language: does it involve familiarity, uniqueness, or both? This paper contributes to the debate by providing a semantic analysis of the definite article nʊ in Akan (Kwa). We provide evidence that nʊ strictly encodes familiarity; it introduces a presupposition that the relevant discourse referent is present in the common ground between speaker and hearer. In almost every respect it parallels German ‘strong’ definite articles as analyzed by Schwarz (2009), and thus provides cross-linguistic support for Schwarz's claim that there are definite articles which encode pure familiarity.Following other researchers, we observe that nʊ can also be used as a third-person singular (animate) pronoun. We argue that in both its determiner and pronominal uses nʊ contributes the same core semantics: familiarity. This is in line with the close parallel between determiners and third person pronouns (cf. Postal, 1966).

► Analysis of the definite article nʊ in Akan (Kwa, Niger-Congo). ► Nʊ encodes familiarity, and does not encode uniqueness. ► Nʊ is extremely similar to the German ‘strong’ definite article. ► Nʊ is also used as a third person object pronoun and a subordinate clause marker. ► Nʊ in all its uses encodes a familiarity presupposition.