On the Adjectival Definite Article in Slovenian * Franc Marušič & Rok Žaucer University of Nova Gorica - University of Ottawa This paper discusses the Slovenian word TA, which is in some ways reminiscent of the standard definite articles known from many European languages, but has several atypical characteristics that make it unique and without a true parallel. TA appears only with adjectives, which, along with some other characteristics, makes it parallel to the adjectival LONG form in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian. We propose that TA is actually the subject of a small clause that acts as an attributive modifier; as such, TA has nothing to do with definiteness or specificity functional projections. 1. Introduction As noted by Toporišič (1992, 2000), Orešnik (2001) and many others (going back to the earliest grammars of Slovenian, see Orožen 1972 for references), colloquial Slovenian has a definite article associated with adjectives. Its association with the adjective is most clearly expressed by the fact that unlike the typical definite article from, for instance, European languages, TA cannot appear with a bare noun, (1). (1) ta velika knjiga – * ta knjiga (Slovenian) the big book – the book (English) das grosse Buch – das Buch (German) il grande libro – il libro (Italian) This is not the only difference between TA and the definite article in the above-mentioned languages. Even though the meaning contribution of TA in (1) seems to parallel that of the definite articles in English, German and Italian—which is why TA is standardly referred to as a ‘definite article’—TA can in fact also appear inside indefinite DPs, as shown in (2). This is, of course, impossible in Italian, German or English, (2b). (2) a. Lihkar je mim prdirkal en ta hiter avto. Just-now aux by speeded a TA fast car 'Some fast car has just sped by.' b. (*Some) the fast car has just sped by. b'. Some (*the) fast car has just sped by. In this paper, we show where TA is most commonly used and what its semantic contribution is. Section 2 presents the basic facts. Section 3 shows that TA is not comparable to the familiar cases of definite article repetition, but that it is strikingly similar to the LONG-form adjectives. In section 4, we give an analysis of TA, arguing that is the subject of a small-clausal prenominal modifier and show how this analysis extends to the LONG-form adjectives. Section 5 is the conclusion. * We would like to thank the organizers of the Contemporary Linguistic Prospects conference in Sarajevo for giving us a chance to present our work, and to the audience for their comments.