1 From possessive pronoun to emphatic determiner:

This paper argues that at a particular stage in the genesis of Mauritian Creole (MC), the 3sg possessive pronoun so, inherited from the French son, was used as a definite determiner as well as a possessive pronoun. It was used when there was a need to single out a unique element in the discourse, or to introduce a new referent which was to become the focus of attention. So was mostly used with genitive constructions, where a phonologically null determiner, represented as δ, was equally grammatical, as shown in (1) and (2). In both instances, the modified NP is singular and [+definite]: (1) So frère ça mamzelle là (Baissac 1888:155) DET brother DEM girl SP The brother of this young girl "Le frère de la jeune fille"2 (Baissac 1888:154) (2) ène loulou dire δ mari ça femme là (Baissac 1888:157) a wolf tell husband DEM woman SP A wolf says to the husband of this woman "Un des loups dit au mari " (de cette femme) (Baissac 1888:156) This use of the possessive pronoun form is not grammatical in French. However, I argue that, in the early creole, the genitive construction in fact licensed its use as a determiner, when a new referent was being introduced in the discourse. This use of so with genitive constructions is no longer grammatical in modern MC, but this particle continues to be used as an emphatic determiner, where it now modifies both singular and plural NPs