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The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL

Japanese Learners : Analysis Based on Noun Types

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The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL
Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types

Mutsumi Ogawa

Journal of Language and Culture

Language and Information
Vol. 3 (2008)
Department of Language and Culture
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Osaka Prefecture University

言語文化学研究（言語情報編）
2008・3 第 3 号抜刷
大阪府立大学人間社会学部 言語文化学科
 133

The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL

Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types

Mutsumi Ogawa

1. Introduction
It is well known that many ESL/EFL learners have difficulty in acquiring
English articles. There are various reasons for the difficulties: for example, the fact
that there is no grammatical Japanese equivalent to articles in English (Mizuno
2000), the complexity of English articles (Celce-Murcia 1999), and a lack of
effective teaching methods in English education (Yamada 1980). Article
acquisition has been studied from the viewpoints of grammar (Yamada 1982),
usage (Dilin 2002), and context (Huebner 1985, Parrish 1987, Ionin 2004).
However, to the best of my knowledge, there are no previous studies which
examine the types of nouns preceding articles. This study carried out two types of
tests pursuing the idea that the difficulty of article acquisition lies in nominal
countability as well as in definiteness and specificity (Hawkins 2001). Test 1 was
on count nouns and mass nouns, and Test 2 on abstract nouns. The test procedure
included a cloze test which was administered to advanced Japanese EFL learners
and English native speakers as a control group, and the results were statistically
analyzed. It was discovered that the advanced EFL learners had trouble correctly
recognizing nominal countability. While they were highly accurate in Test 1, in
Test 2 they made overuse errors in definite articles typical of basic or intermediate
learners. This indicates that nominal countability plays an important role in article
acquisition. Considering this fact, this paper will attempt to demonstrate the
assumption that countability precedes definiteness.
134 Mutsumi Ogawa

2. Studies in English Articles

2.1 Syntactic and Semantic Background to English Articles
English has three articles: the definite article the, the indefinite article a/an,
and the so-called zero article ø (considered as an indefinite article here). Articles
are located in front of a noun phrase (NP) as a head of a determiner phrase (DP).
The noun types that can follow each article are in Table 1 (proper nouns
excluded).

Table 1 Distribution of noun types and articles

count noun
mass noun abstract noun
singular plural
the ○ the rabbit ○ the rabbits ○ the porridge ○ the understanding
a/an ○ a rabbit × × ○ an understanding
ø × ○ ø rabbits ○ ø porridge ○ ø understanding
(Based on Hawkins 2001)

The definite article the can be used with all types of nouns as seen above, but the
indefinite article a/an and the zero article ø are restricted by nominal features:
countability ([±count]) and number ([±singular]).
Moreover, Bickerton (1981; cited in Hawkins 2001) claimed that articles
have different interpretations that are captured in terms of two binary features:

whether the article and associated NP refer to a specific entity [±specific

referent], and whether the article and associated NP are already known,
from the previous discourse or from context, to the person who is listening
to or reading the sentence [±hearer knowledge]. (Hawkins 2001, p.233)

In this study, [±specific referent] is described as [±spec], and [±hearer

knowledge] as [±def]. The combination of these features determines appropriate
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 135
article uses in context. I will briefly introduce the interpretation of each
combination. First, [+spec/+def] means that an NP refers to a specific entity which
is already known to the listener or reader. Second, [+spec/-def] means that an NP
refers to a specific entity which the listener or reader cannot identify from what
has been said or read. Third, [-spec/-def] means that an NP refers to a non-specific
entity which is unknown to the listener or reader. Finally, [-spec/+def] means that
an NP refers to a non-specific entity which is identifiable to the listener or reader
by using general knowledge of the entity (Hawkins 2001). The distribution of
appropriate articles to each combination is shown in Table 2. As we can see in
Table 2, articles are distinguished by [±def]. However, [±spec] is irrelevant to
article usage and can be detected only from context. In the example I like ø apples
and I bought ø apples, the former apples is [-spec] because it indicates apples as a
category of fruit. On the other hand, the latter apples is [+spec] because it only
refers to the apples that I bought. The next section will introduce previous studies
conducted according to the features above.

Table 2 Distribution of articles according to [±spec/±def]

+spec –spec
(generic: the, a, ø)
the e.g., The lion is a ferocious animal.
+def
e.g., How was the test yesterday? A lion is a ferocious animal.
Lions are ferocious animals.
a, ø
a, ø
–def e.g., I don’t have a car.
e.g., I saw a funny looking dog today.
I need a new belt.

2.2 Previous Studies on the Acquisition of English Articles

First, I will refer to two studies looking at beginning and intermediate
learners. Parrish (1987) and Huebner (1985) conducted longitudinal studies on
articles in L2 English. Parrish’s study investigated an L1 Japanese speaker over a
136 Mutsumi Ogawa

four-month period and Huebner’s an L1 Hmong speaker over one year. Their data
were based on the subjects’ spontaneous speech. The subjects were judged to be at
the basic level of English at the beginning, and were expected, at the end of data
collection, to reach the intermediate level.
Parrish found that definite articles were used to mark NPs with the [+spec]
feature. Huebner found that the subject overused the in NPs which were [-def] and
that the overuse reduced gradually from [–spec/–def] NPs to [+spec/–def] NPs.
Taking into account those findings, Hawkins (2001) suggested an incremental
development in the acquisition of DP as follows:
Bare NP Æ Specificity (marked by the) Æ Definiteness (marked by a/ø)
According to Hawkins, the emergence of the is a signal of DP. It is reasonable to
think that the emerges earlier than a/an or ø because it can take all types of NPs
(except for proper nouns) regardless of countability ([±count]) and number ([±
singular]). On the other hand, the proper use of a/an and ø requires learners to
judge nominal countability and number correctly. In this account, Hawkins
assumed that specificity marked by the is acquired first and definiteness marked
by a/ø later.
Next, I will introduce three studies involving advanced learners. Robertson
(2000) examined the omission of articles by L2 English learners with L1
Taiwanese and/or Mandarin; Leung (2001) investigated Cantonese-English
bilinguals; White (2003) studied an L2 English speaker with L1 Turkish. They all
showed that unlike in beginning or intermediate learners there was no evidence
for definite articles predominantly used to mark [+spec] NPs. Therefore, it is
strongly suggested that advanced learners have acquired the [±def] distinction. In
addition, their studies verified that omission of articles by advanced learners was
systematic and only occurred under certain circumstances. To sum up, advanced
learners are shown to have learned where to use no articles, that is, the usage of
zero article, and the proper use of English articles in terms of the [±def]
distinction.
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 137
2.3 Problems in Previous Studies
Although omission errors in articles were frequently observed in Parrish
(1987), it is difficult to objectively judge whether they are really omissions or the
use of zero articles if the task is spontaneous speech or writing. Therefore, the
research task needs to be reconsidered. As shown by Leung (2001), White (2003),
and Robertson (2000), advanced learners know the usage of zero articles, so that
zero articles are classified as zero articles rather than omissions. Therefore, a cloze
test, where appropriate articles have to be supplied in blanks, is appropriate as a
research method. Another problem with Parrish is that articles were analyzed
according to [ ± def/ ± spec] features but not analyzed based on nominal
countability ([±count, ±singular]). Consequently, the subject’s uses of zero
articles ø for [-def] NPs (e.g., I have ø brother), where native speakers use
indefinite article a, were counted as uses of zero articles, but they could instead be
countability errors.
Furthermore, in the other previous studies mentioned above, count nouns
and mass nouns were used for the research; abstract nouns have never been
focused on in the literature as they were counted as uncountable nouns together
with mass nouns or excluded altogether. For this reason, the present study
investigated article uses based on noun types: count nouns (singular and plural),
mass nouns, and abstract nouns. The goal of this study is to clarify what kind of
influence different noun types have on L2 learners and how nominal countability
affects the acquisition of articles.

3. The Study
I conducted two studies of English articles focused on nominal countability,
definiteness, and specificity.

3.1 Participants and Method

Twelve Japanese speaking advanced EFL learners and twelve English
native speakers (NSs) participated in this study. The Japanese learners were either
138 Mutsumi Ogawa

university students in English linguistics or English teachers at cram schools or

English conversation schools. They were at an advanced level of English, with an
average TOEIC score 880 (range: 800-975). Five participants had not stayed in an
English speaking country for longer than six months, and the rest of the
participants had lived in an English speaking country for over 20 months on
average, ranging from eight months to four years and ten months.
The participants were given a cloze test where they had to fill in blanks with
appropriate articles (the, a/an, or ø). There were two tests: Test 1 for count nouns
and mass nouns and Test 2 for abstract nouns.

3.2 Study 1: Count Nouns / Mass Nouns

3.2.1 Material
I paid attention to the following points when creating the test. First, I
adopted the features from Bickerton (1981; cited in Hawkins 2001), but the
combination [+def/–spec] was excluded because it bears a generic meaning and
allows all articles. All blanks were followed by NPs of one of three types: singular
count nouns ([+count/+singular]), plural count nouns ([+count/–singular]), and
mass nouns ([–count]). Also, the questions were of three types based on the [±
def/±spec] features: 30 questions for [+def/+spec], 15 questions for [−def/+spec],
and 15 questions for [−def/−spec]. The distribution of appropriate articles
according to the [±countable/±singular] and [±def/±spec] features is shown in
Table 3 and example questions are provided below. In addition, some NPs in the
questions occurred with modifiers.

Table 3 Appropriate articles for count/mass nouns by [±def/±spec] features

(total number of questions)
1. [+def/+spec] 2. [−def/+spec] 3. [−def/−spec]
s. [+count/+singular] the (10) a/an (5) a/an (5)
p. [+count/–singular] the (10) ø (5) ø (5)
m. [–count] the (10) ø (5) ø (5)
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 139
(1) Son: Hey, Dad, can I have ( the ) car Friday night? I want to take
Sally to a school dance.
Dad: Well, that depends. Don’t you have ( a ) paper to write?
Son: Yeah, but it’s almost done.
Dad: Well, okay. But, be back by 12:30.
Son: Thanks, Dad…by the way, could I go buy ( a ) new shirt for
( the ) dance?
(2) I used to grow ( ø ) flowers. However, I watered them too much,
and the roots of ( the ) flowers rotted away. I learned that the amount
of ( ø ) water is most important for them.
(3) The wind blew away ( the ) letter you’ve just sent me. It was like
( a ) butterfly flying in the air.

For example, the car in (1) falls into [+count/+singular] and [+def/+spec] since
car is countable and singular in this context and the son and his father are talking
about a car they own, which is a specific entity and identifiable to both of them.

3.2.2 Results
The accuracy rates (%) for different contexts in Test 1 are provide for EFL
learners and NSs in Table 4 and Figure 1.

Table 4 Accuracy rates (%) and SDs in Test 1

1.[+def / +spec] 2.[–def / +spec] 3.[–def / –spec]
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
EFL 89.72 7.8 85.56 11.3 85.56 9.4
NS 98.33 2.7 95.00 5.0 96.11 6.6
140 Mutsumi Ogawa

Figure 1 Accuracy for each context in Test 1

98.33 96.11
100 95.00
89.72
90 85.56 85.56
80
70
60
EFL
50
%

NS
40
30
20
10
0
1.[+def/+spec] 2.[–def/+spec] 3.[–def/–spec]

A one-way ANOVA was conducted on the data. The main effect of Participants
was significant [F(1,22)=15.79, p<.001], so EFL learners had not achieved
native-like proficiency yet. Furthermore, the main effect of [ ± def/ ± spec]
features and the interaction of Participants and [±def/±spec] features were not
significant [F(2,44)=2.69, n.s.; F(2,44)=.156, n.s.], which indicates no difference
in difficulty depending on the [±def/±spec] features. All answers in Test 1
provided by EFL and NS participants are sorted according to the [±def/±spec]
contexts, noun types (s(ingular), p(lural), m(ass)), and articles types (the, a, ø), and
the frequency for each cell is provided in Table 5 and Table 6, with the shaded
areas indicating the correct answers.
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 141
Table 5 Suppliance by EFL learners Table 6 Suppliance by NSs
(total number of items) (total number of items)
Noun the a/an ø Noun the a/an ø

s 109(120) 7 4 s 117(120) 0 3
[+def/ [+def/
p 110(120) 0 10 p 117(120) 0 3
+spec] +spec]
m 104(120) 0 16 m 120(120) 0 0

s 4 55(60) 1 s 0 60(60) 0
[-def/ [-def/
p 2 1 57(60) p 0 0 60(60)
+spec] +spec]
m 1 17 42(60) m 2 6 51(60)

s 2 51(60) 7 s 0 60(60) 0
[-def [-def
p 1 5 54(60) p 1 2 57(60)
/-spec] /-spec]
m 4 7 49(60) m 2 2 56(60)

As Table 5 shows, there is no evidence for definite articles predominantly used by

EFL learners to mark [+spec] NPs. This supports the findings of Leung (2001)
and White (2000) that advanced learners have acquired the [±def] distinction to a
great degree.
Next, I will discuss errors made by EFL learners in terms of nominal
countability. There were 38 countability errors in total. The majority of errors, 24
out of 38, were the use of a/an for mass nouns bearing the [-def] feature (e.g.,
chocolate, aspirin, wine, iron, tea, transportation, milk), where ø was expected.
Presumably, EFL learners regarded the mass nouns as countable and supplied
a/an. However, eight errors involved supplying no articles to singular count nouns
(e.g., crow, meal, paper). These results indicate that EFL learners have trouble
detecting nominal countability correctly, although they have acquired the
appropriate article usage based on the [±def] feature.
142 Mutsumi Ogawa

3.3 Study 2: Abstract Nouns

3.3.1 Material
I used to Ivanič’s (1991) “carrier nouns” and Schmid’s (2000) “shell nouns”
for the selection of abstract nouns in Test 2. Both types of nouns are categorized as
abstract nouns and share similar denotations. They are referred to as C/S nouns in
this study.

C/S: confidence / courage / crime / fear / understanding

non-C/S: communication / education / friendship / life / love

(4) The fear of contracting AIDS was very real.

(EPHEM; Schmid 2000, p. 229)
(5) He has done absolutely nothing wrong. His biggest crime was to sit
near the fire exit.
(MAGS; Schmid 2000, p. 274)

The major characteristic of C/S nouns is that they have two meanings: a constant
meaning, which is in the dictionary, and a variable meaning, which depends on
the context. In other words, they “carry” an additional, context-dependent
meaning in their “shell”. For example, fear in (4) has a shell meaning, that is, the
bad feeling that a person has when he/she is in danger, and a variable meaning,
that is, in this context, the fear of contracting AIDS. Similarly in (5), crime
denotes an act that one thinks is immoral or illegal as its shell and to sit near the
fire exit as a variable meaning in this context. Due to the specific contents that C/S
nouns carry, they are predominantly considered countable while abstract nouns
themselves are uncountable as a default (Ivanič 1991). In addition, Ivanič argues
that C/S nouns are most context-dependent when they are accompanied by a
definite article. Figure 5 shows the relationship of definiteness and nominal
countability according to the degree of context dependency.
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 143
Figure 2 Degree of context-dependency and the features of carrier nouns
Most context-dependent uses Å------------------------------ÆMost self-contained uses
[+def / +count] [+def / +count] [–def / +count] [–count]

(Ivanič 1991, p.110)

First of all, I selected C/S and non C/S nouns with high frequency from the
British National Corpus. Of those nouns, the ones that invariably take a certain
article and the ones that have obtained a constant, countable notion from their
conventional usages were excluded. Nouns that occurred with adjectives were
also eliminated. Then, nouns that maintain their core “shell” meaning in any
context were chosen. It turned out, after the test was done, that some questions
invited unexpected answers due to ambiguity of the contexts. Therefore, three
such questions were excluded from the analysis. This deletion caused unbalanced
numbers of questions for the three contexts: 19 questions for [+def/+spec], 20
questions for [−def/+spec], and 18 questions for [−def/−spec]. The distribution of
appropriate articles according to the nominal feature ([±count]) and the [±def/
±spec] features is presented in Table 7, followed by example questions below.

Table 7 Appropriate articles for abstract nouns by [±def/±spec] features

(total number of questions)
1. [+def/+spec] 2. [–def/+spec] 3. [–def/–spec]
c. [+count] the (10) a/an (10) a/an (8)
u. [–count] the (9) ø (10) ø (10)

(4) If you're trying to catch somebody immediately after ( a ) crime,

you grab every man you can and smother the area.
(5) John and I had a huge argument a month ago. He sent me a letter
saying how concerned he was and I finally found ( the ) courage to
go back, but it was quite a while before I'd opened up to him again.
144 Mutsumi Ogawa

(6) In that accident, the quick-thinking police officer saved ( a ) life.

(7) The professor says this new system has good networks for ( ø )
communication and is very attractive for business.

For example, a crime in (4) falls into [+count] and [–def/–spec]. Crime in this
context is countable because it refers to one incidence of a crime among various
crimes, and it is a non-specific entity which a reader cannot identify from the
context.

3.3.2 Results
The results were subjected to a one-way ANOVA. The accuracy rates (%)
are shown for EFL and NS participants in Table 8 and Figure 3.

Table 8 Accuracy rates (%) and SDs in Test 2

1.[+def / +spec] 2.[–def / +spec] 3.[–def / –spec]
Mean SD Mean SD Mean SD
EFL 63.16 13.7 40.83 11.8 57.41 11.2
NS 84.65 11.5 75.00 11.1 80.56 13.3

Figure 3 Accuracy for each context in Test 2

100
90 84.65
80.56
80 75.00
70 63.16
57.41
60
EFL
50
%

40.83 NS
40
30
20
10
0
1.[+def/+spec] 2.[–def/+spec] 3.[–def/–spec]
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 145
As in Test 1, the main effect of Participants was significant [F(1,22)=1279.14,
p<.001]. However, unlike Test 1, there was a significant main effect of [±def/±
spec] features [F(2,44)=16.93, p<.001] and a near-significant interaction effect of
Participants and [±def/±spec] features [F(2,44)=2.996, .10>p>.05], indicating
that the difficulty in using articles differs as a function of [±def/±spec] features
and that there are some difficult combinations of features especially for EFL
learners.
In order to further examine the data, post hoc tests were conducted. No
significant differences related to [±def/±spec] features were found in the NS
data, but a significant difference was found between [-def/+spec] contexts and the
other contexts in the EFL data [F(2,35)=10.71, p<.001]. This indicates that EFL
learners have trouble using articles properly for nouns with a [-def/+spec] feature.
Therefore, I looked into all answers to NPs with the [-def / +spec] feature. There
were three types of errors: overuse of the, a/an + uncountable noun, and ø +
countable noun, as shown in Figure 4 and Figure 5.

Figure 4 All answers to [-def/+spec] by EFL learners

146 Mutsumi Ogawa

Figure 5 All answers to [-def/+spec] by NSs

As for EFL learners, correct answers and overuses of the were almost the same in
percentage, and most of the errors were due to the overuse of the. The following
tables show the suppliance of articles in each context by EFL and NS participants,
with the appropriate answers shaded. It is obvious that EFL learners overused the
to mark NPs with the [+spec] feature, whereas NSs did not.
Moreover, the smaller percentages of a/an + uncountable nouns (4.17% by
EFL, 3.0% by NS) compared to the other error types imply that the EFL
participants knew that abstract nouns are uncountable in essence so they avoided
using a/an. This is consistent with the smaller number of total suppliances of a/an
throughout Test 2 (129 by EFL, 183 by NS). However, countability judgments by
EFL learners and NSs seem different, as reflected in errors in NPs with the [+def /
+spec] feature, where the is expected. As seen in Tables 9 and 10, while NSs
showed a preference for using a/an for countable nouns (10 for countable nouns,
7 for uncountable nouns) and ø for uncountable nouns (5 for countable nouns, 14
for uncountable nouns), EFL learners did not show any such tendency, using a/an
16 times for countable nouns and 16 times for uncountable nouns, and using ø 27
times for countable nouns and 29 times for uncountable nouns. In short, EFL
learners failed to perceive the appropriate countability of abstract nouns according
to the contexts.
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 147
Table 9 Suppliance by EFL learners (total number of items)
Noun the a/an ø
[+def/ c 77(120) 16 27
+spec] u 63(108) 16 29
[-def/ c 55 32(120) 33
+spec] u 44 10 66(120)
[-def c 11 34(96) 51
/-spec] u 11 21 88(120)
Total 261 129 294

Table 10 Suppliance by NSs (total number of items)

Noun the a/an ø
[+def/ c 105(120) 10 5
+spec] u 87(108) 7 14
[-def/ c 12 84(120) 24
+spec] u 17 7 96(120)
[-def c 5 68(96) 23
/-spec] u 6 7 107(120)
Total 232 183 269

4. Discussion and Conclusions

The two important findings of this study are the following:
1. The overuse of the for [+spec] NPs by EFL learners marking [+spec] NPs
was observed in Test 2, but not in Test 1.
2. EFL learners failed to make correct judgments on the countability of
abstract nouns.
In Test 1, EFL learners recognized definiteness of NPs correctly and used definite
articles where they were supposed to. However, the majority of errors seen in Test
148 Mutsumi Ogawa

2 were the overuses of the for [+spec] NPs. This tendency to mark [+spec] NPs
with the has been observed among basic level or intermediate learners (Huebner
1985; Parrish 1987). However, the advanced EFL learners appeared to make the
same errors in Test 2 as if they had regressed to the lower levels. Importantly, Test
1 and Test 2 were different in noun types but the other settings such as the [±def/
±spec] features were the same. In other words, the difficulty in capturing
nominal countability most likely caused EFL learners to use articles according to
the [±spec] features alone, which resulted in their overuse of the. This implies
that nominal countability affected [±def] interpretations. The whole tendency
observed in this study can be generalized as follows: The more difficult it is to
detect countability, the more difficult it is to detect definiteness.
As a possible account, I propose that countability be added to the
incremental development in DP proposed by Hawkins (2001).
Bare NP Æ Specificity (marked by the)
Æ Countability (marked by a/ø) Æ Definiteness (marked by a/ø)
There was some indication of nominal countability causing difficulty for EFL
learners even in Test 1. Therefore, it is no wonder that EFL learners were less
accurate in Test 2 with respect to the uses of a/an and ø. However, overuse of the
to mark [+spec] NPs cannot be explained if the [±def] distinction has been
acquired. Thus, I propose to modify Hawkins’s incremental development as
follows: The emergence of the marking on [+spec] NPs triggers the DPs system in
the learner’s grammar, and thereafter, considering countability of NPs, they finally
attain definiteness. As Hawkins says, definiteness is evident in a/an and ø, so
correct judgment on countability is a prerequisite for the correct marking of
definiteness.
However, one consideration here is the validity of Test 2. The difficulty in
creating contexts for the countable use of abstract nouns might have made Test 2
more difficult than Test 1, as even NSs showed lower mean scores in Test 2. It is
also possible to postulate that advanced learners would overuse the depending on
the difficulty of contexts regardless of noun types. Therefore, in order to support
 The Acquisition of English Articles by Advanced EFL Japanese Learners: Analysis Based on Noun Types 149
my proposal, it is necessary to further investigate learners at various levels and
show that a/an and ø are distinguished in terms of countability earlier than a/an
and ø are distinguished in terms of definiteness regardless of noun types.
Another possible reason for the overuse of the is a strategy of the EFL
learners. When the learners cannot decide whether a noun is countable or
uncountable, they may use the, which allows any type of noun to follow, in order
to avoid making countability judgments. For example, assuming that abstract
nouns are considered uncountable in essence, the learners have two choices, the or
ø. They decide which to use relying on the [±def] distinction, that is, whether an
NP is identifiable from the context. As long as they are aware of the [±def]
distinction, they will not have trouble using the in the [+def] context. However,
when they encounter an NP which is specific but not identifiable from the context,
they hesitate to use ø straightforwardly because they strongly sense the specificity
of the NP. Then, they have another choice of a/an, but they cannot decide whether
the NP is countable or uncountable. Consequently, the learners are tied to the idea
that a/an is accompanied by countable nouns, and end up using the in order to
avoid making a judgment on countability. Thus, even though the [-def] feature is
clear, specificity may override definiteness in determining articles unless nominal
countability is clear. The possibility of this strategy could be verified in further
study by post-questionnaires to the participants.
One question unsolved in this study is what kind of context determines
countability of abstract nouns; in other words, how we can draw a line between
a/an and ø to mark [-def] NPs. Native speakers clearly recognized the difference
between a/an and ø to mark abstract nouns, so there must be an underlying factor
for the distinction. To discover the factor, one needs to look into the difference
between a/an + abstract noun and abstract noun + plural -s. This is because the
presence of a/an might not be a perfect criterion for a noun’s countability since
a/an has a kind-denoting function, such as ‘a kind or a type of’, in some cases. For
example, cheese means generic and a cheese means a type of cheese
(Celce-Murcia 1999). Further study is needed to address these questions in order
150 Mutsumi Ogawa

to gain a better understanding of the relationship between countability and article

usage.

References
Butler, Yuko. Goto. (2002). Second Language Learners’ Theories on the Use of
English Articles: An Analysis of the Metalinguistic Knowledge used by
Japanese Students in Acquiring the English Article System. Studies in
Second Language Acquisition, 24 (3), 451-481.
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(Osaka Prefecture University, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences,

MA Program in Language and Culture)

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