The definite determiner in Early Middle English: What happened with �e?

This paper offers new data bearing on the question of when English developed a definite article, distinct from the distal demonstrative. It focuses primarily on one criterion that has been used in dating this development, namely the inability of �e (Modern English the, the reflex of the demonstrative se) to be used as a pronoun. I argue that this criterion is not a satisfactory one and propose a treatment of �e as a form which could occupy either the head D of DP or the specifier of DP. This is an approach consistent with Crisma�s (2011) position that a defi nite article emerged within the Old English (OE) period. I offer a new piece of evidence supporting Crisma�s demonstration of a difference between OE poetry and the prose of the ninth century and later.