The syntax of Bulgarian edin 'one'

Abstract

The present paper aims at offering a syntactic model for the grammaticalization of the numeral edin ‘one’ in Bulgarian. Edin is argued to be at the beginning of the last stage of grammaticalization, i.e., the stage of the indefinite article (cf. Geist 2013). It may function as (i) a cardinal numeral; (ii) a specificity marker (individuating the referent); or (iii) an article-like element with non-referential interpretation in generic sentences. The proposal put forth here is that these different functions are the manifestation of three different structural positions: (i) the specifier of a functional projection (NumP) below the DP for the cardinal; (ii) SpecDP for the specific marker; and (iii) the head D for the article-like marker of genericity. This model represents a perfect linguistic cycle, which suggests that the present analysis may be on the right track.