THE CATEGORY OF DEFINITENESS IN ENGLISH AND KARAKALPAK LANGUAGES

Abstract

The concept of definiteness constitutes a fundamental grammatical and semantic category that enables speakers to express whether a referent is identifiable, unique, or previously mentioned within a discourse. This paper presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of how definiteness is realized in English and Karakalpak languages. While English has a grammaticalized article system, Karakalpak conveys definiteness through context, word order, demonstratives, and pragmatic inference. By examining linguistic, cognitive, and cultural dimensions, this study highlights the ways in which both languages encode the relationship between the speaker, listener, and referential world.