Overview

Kewan uses articles and determiners to identify, specify, and describe nouns.

Articles and determiners agree with the nouns they modify in both grammatical gender and number.

Kewan recognizes three grammatical genders:

• Masculine

• Feminine

• Neuter

Each gender has singular and plural forms. Neuter is the default gender for nouns without a specifically masculine or feminine referent.

1. Definite Articles

Definite articles correspond to the English word the. They identify a specific or previously established noun.

These articles follow Kewan's regular gender-number endings.

The definite article is placed before the noun it modifies.

2. Indefinite Articles

Indefinite articles introduce nouns that are nonspecific or have not yet been identified.

Singular indefinite articles correspond to English a or an. Plural indefinite articles function similarly to English some.

The indefinite article is placed before the noun it modifies.

Unlike English, Kewan distinguishes gender and number in both definite and indefinite articles.

3. Demonstrative Determiners

Demonstrative determiners identify nouns according to their relative proximity to the speaker or the context.

Kewan distinguishes two levels of proximity:

• Proximal: this / these

• Distal: that / those

Proximal Demonstratives — This / These

The proximal demonstrative uses the stem est-, derived primarily from Spanish and Portuguese este/esta.

Distal Demonstratives — That / Those

The distal demonstrative uses the stem aquel-, derived primarily from Spanish aquel/aquella and Portuguese aquele/aquela.

These forms follow Kewan's regular gender and number endings.

Demonstrative determiners precede the nouns they modify.

4. Gender and Number Agreement

Articles and determiners must agree with their associated nouns in both gender and number.

The agreement system uses the following endings:

These endings also apply to nouns and adjectives, creating a consistent grammatical system.

For example, a masculine plural noun requires a masculine plural article and masculine plural adjectives.

A neuter singular noun requires neuter singular forms throughout its noun phrase.

5. Pronunciation and Orthography

Articles and determiners follow Kewan's established pronunciation rules.

The spelling eu represents /ø/, the same vowel sound heard in French deux.

This applies to forms such as:

• leu — neuter plural definite article

• uneu — neuter plural indefinite article

• esteu — neuter plural proximal demonstrative

• aqueleu — neuter plural distal demonstrative

The spelling qu is always pronounced /kw/ in Kewan, including in the aquel- demonstrative family.

6. Possessive Determiners

Possessive determiners express relationships such as my, your, his, her, our, and their.

Their forms will be established alongside Kewan's personal pronouns to maintain consistency between the two grammatical systems.

7. Linguistic Origins

Kewan's article and determiner system draws primarily from its Romance-language influences while maintaining its own regular grammatical structure.

• Definite articles: Italian-inspired lo, la, li, le, extended to the neuter gender.

• Indefinite articles: Romance-derived un- stem, adapted to Kewan's six gender-number forms.

• Proximal demonstratives: Spanish and Portuguese este/esta.

• Distal demonstratives: Spanish aquel/aquella and Portuguese aquele/aquela.

These forms are consistent with Kewan's established source languages: Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese, Romanian, and English.

Summary

Kewan articles and determiners follow these principles:

1. Definite articles distinguish masculine, feminine, and neuter forms in both singular and plural.

2. Indefinite articles also distinguish all three genders and both numbers.

3. Demonstratives distinguish proximity (this/these versus that/those) as well as gender and number.

4. Articles and determiners precede their nouns.

5. Articles and determiners agree with nouns in gender and number.

6. Possessive determiners will be defined alongside personal pronouns.