Indefinite article or numeral one?

Abstract

This paper investigatesiʔ5‘one’ in Shiposheng, a vernacular dialect spoken in the north of Guangdong Province. Thoughiʔ5in Shiposheng andyi‘one’ in Mandarin share similar usages, they behave differently when cooccurring with the demonstrative, i.e.,iʔ5in Shiposheng cannot follow the demonstrative as its Mandarin counterpart does. It is proposed that the numeral for ‘one’ in Shiposheng is grammaticalized to an indefinite article, whileyi‘one’ in Mandarin is still a numeral though it could be used as an indefinite article in some cases. The different behaviors of the Mandarinyi‘one’ and the Shiposhengiʔ5are due to their distinct grammatical status.