The definite article in Spanish as a polysemous category

Abstract

The present paper investigates the semantic structure of the definite article in Spanish, traditionally characterized as meaningless, from a Cognitive Linguistics perspective. After a brief overview of the role of the definite article as an element of the Spanish grounding system, it will be argued that the category of the definite article is polysemous, has radial structure, and it is organized around prototypical centres. It will be demonstrated how the senses, which are motivated by family resemblances and interrelated through categorizing relationships of elaboration and extension, are linked in a polysemy network. Moreover, it will be held that the various senses of the definite article constitute a continuum, since expressions grounded by the definite article can run the gamut from profiling a unique entity of the type to denoting the whole class of entities.1