Some Cases of Double Definiteness in Bulgarian

In many languages worldwide, some of the most typical and frequently used specific determiners (i.e. markers of definiteness) are the definite article and the demonstrative pronoun this. Typologically, Bulgarian also falls into this category. These two determiners often compete with and mutually exclude each other in both situational and textual deixis as they convey similar meanings. This overlap arises from the fact that the modern Bulgarian definite article is derived from an old demonstrative pronoun. Despite the prohibition on the co-occurrence of two semantically similar determiners within a single noun phrase, Bulgarians frequently use constructions that include both the definite article and the demonstrative pronoun – referred to as constructions with double-marked definiteness. The analysis reveals that these constructions are specific cases in which the determiners do not indicate coreference between an unfamiliar and a familiar object. Instead, they refer to an already familiar object. The inclusion of both determiners serves a communicative purpose, with speakers deliberately using them to draw the listener’s attention, emphasise, provide emotional evaluation or intensify a quality or emotion.