The article and its role in the expression the concept of definiteness and indefiniteness in modern English

Tymchuk Elena Victorovna, Gamaeva Lyudmila Anatlyevna

The article considers a unique character of English articles that play the key role in the realization of the concept of definiteness and indefiniteness. It is pointed out that in spite of the universal character of the concept for any egocentric model of human society its linguistic realization is different in form and meaning. The uniqueness of English model in linguistic realization of the concept of definiteness and indefiniteness lies in the fact that English possesses a special system of function words and three formal means of concept expression – the definite article, the indefinite article and the zero article. The research uses classical methods of linguistic investigation: semantic, lexical-phraseological, typological, comparative and contrastive analysis.

Keywords:concept, definite article, indefinite article, zero article, egocentric model, universal character.