determinerinflected

Determinerinflected is a term used in linguistics to describe determiners that carry inflectional morphology, encoding grammatical features such as gender, number, case, definiteness, or demonstrative distance. In languages with determiner inflection, the form of the determiner changes to agree with the noun or noun phrase it accompanies.

Morphology and function. Inflected determiners can mark gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive) or express definiteness and proximity. For example, in German the definite article inflects for gender, number, and case (der/die/das; den/dem/des, etc.), while the indefinite article ein/eine declines as well (ein Mann, eine Frau). In languages with rich demonstrative systems, forms like this/these and that/these also inflect for gender, number, and case in many dialects. Some languages combine article-like particles with nouns, affixing definite markers to the noun rather than generating separate word forms.

Cross-linguistic patterns. English largely lacks determiner inflection, with determiners such as the/this/that remaining invariant across most features, while pronouns exhibit inflection. Other languages show extensive determiner inflection or agreement: German, Icelandic, and several Slavic languages have inflected demonstratives or definite articles; some languages use postposed or enclitic definite markers attached to the noun. By contrast, languages without articles or with fixed article forms demonstrate limited or no determiner agreement.

Theoretically, determiner inflection is discussed within DP (determiner phrase) theory as part of how nouns, determiners, and adjectives agree within noun phrases. It highlights how determiners contribute grammatical information beyond mere reference.