The category of definiteness-indefiniteness in Bulgarian and Russian

One of the striking features that distinguishes Bulgarian from Russian and other Slavic languages is the presence of morphological definiteness, expressed through the articulation of forms. The corresponding linguistic function in Russian is usually performed in the course of the semantic-syntactic organization of the utterance by units that may belong to different linguistic levels. A similar expression, different from the morphological one, also exists in Bulgarian. In search of a unified approach to comparative research, the author adopts a broader understanding of the category of definiteness-indefiniteness – as an invariant unity of series of categorical semantic features that are opposite in content and function, expressed through certain (including different in nature) linguistic means and devices. In practice, the analysis of linguistic features in the compared languages is carried out with regard to the main components of the categorical opposition: a) the semantics of definiteness and, respectively, indefiniteness; b) the main linguistic means for their expression, and c) the non-basic (additional, peripheral) means and ways of expressing the respective categorical meanings. It is important for the comparative analysis to reveal the type and functional-semantic properties of the individual elements, as well as their interaction.