Notas sobre determinantes definidos y no definidos

the objective of this article is to justify the use of indefinite determiners attached to thematic (preverbal) nouns. the point of departure is the consideration that the development of the determinant paradigm is linked to the need of an analytical resource which could replace the nominative case as an introducer of thematic units. themes must have a definite semantic value; therefore, indefinite determiners do not seem suitable to introduce thematic units. however, thematic noun phrases with indefinite determiners can be found fairly easily in spanish. the explanation of this lies in the fact that on many occasions situational or verbal context turns an indefinite determiner into a unit with a generic or contrastive value, that is, with a definite value.