Definiteness and number: Determiner phrase and number phrase in the history of English

The structure of the Old English nominal is examined with respect to two functional categories, Determiner Phrase (DP), and Number Phrase (NumP), in comparison with the structure of the present-day English nominal. The focus is on word order and morphology in Old English and the syntactic changes that have occurred in the history of English. It is proposed that Old English has a DP although it lacks a dedicated definite article. The demonstrative is assumed to be a DP specifier, and the development of the article from the distal demonstrative is a change from a specifier to a head within the DP. Old English does not have an indefinite article and the development of a new functional head, the indefinite article, from the adjectival numeral ‘one,’ is the overt evidence of a new functional category, NumP.; In the higher area of the nominal, where definiteness is checked, word order and morphology in Old English, including strong and weak adjectival inflection and N-to-D movement of proper names, provide further evidence for DP. Three different word orders between Old English and present-day English involving possessives and demonstratives are identified and accounted for. The co-occurrence of demonstratives and possessive determiners in earlier Old English is argued to occur because possessives are not definite as they are in present-day English.; In the lower area of the nominal, where number is checked, it is assumed that NumP in present-day English is the position of the indefinite article and weak determiners. It is argued that quantification is not a categorical feature and that NumP has cardinality, not quantification as its defining feature. Spec-NumP is the position of fronted pre-modifiers in present-day English. Evidence that Old English does not have a NumP is that it does not have fronted pre-modifiers or compound pronouns, both of which arise in the 13th century. The count noun/non-count noun distinction in Old English and the morphology and syntax of the numeral system provide further support. It is concluded that the functional structure of the Old English nominal includes a Determiner Phrase but no Number Phrase.