Why does Italian use definite articles before possessive adjectives, except when these are followed by a singular family noun?

Question

In Italian possessive adjectives are preceded by a definite article: “il mio amico” (the my friend), “la nostra casa”, “i tuoi libri”. The article however is always dropped with singular nouns indicating family relationship: “mio padre”, “mia sorella”, “mio cugino”, and it comes back in the case of plurals: “i miei fratelli”, “i miei cugini”. So we have the case where for “my husband” we can either use “mio marito” without article, and also “il mio uomo” (my man) with the article, both meaning the same thing - the latter being less common but perfectly acceptable, as we find in Spanish too. In the plural case, it’s again “i miei mariti” and “i miei uomini”. The same goes for “my wife/wives”.

AFAIK this exception is peculiar to Italian. In at least three other Romance languages the article is added to the possessive adjective, but in all cases this includes singular family nouns too. I.e. in Portuguese (but not in Brazil) and Catalan it’s “o meu pai” and “el meu pare” for “my father” , and in Romanian “frate-le meu” for “my brother”, all cases retaining the article.

The Italian language is well known for using definite articles quite liberally, before dates, weekdays, numbers, in some cases even in front of personal names as it is the case of the Milanese dialect: “il Giorgio”, “la Maria”. So I wonder what’s the origin of this “economy of expression” reserved to a family member.

Answer 1

Generally (in Central Italian), the definite article always accompanies a possessive pronoun - except when referring to a certain kinship names (singenionimi) in the singular. These are:

• padre, madre, figlio, figlia

In many dialects of Italian this is extended to include:

• mamma, papà, fratello, sorella, zio/-a, cugino/-a
  nonno/-a, moglie, marito, cognato/-a, suocero/-a

Note, the article is required for these variations of the above exceptions:

• plurals - i miei genitori - DET my parents
• synonyms - la mia mamma - DET my mommy
• diminutives - la mia sorellina - DET my sister.DIMIN
• third person - il loro fratello - DET their brother
• derived terms - la mia bisnonna - DET my great-grandmother
• adjective modified forms - la mia nonna materna - DET my grandmother maternal

And is often also included in these circumstances:

• In sentences with specific emphasis (where the possessive is normally postponed):

  "il figlio mio", "il nonno mio"

• Where the kinship name is accompanied by an anthroponym (first name or surname)

^{(Note: In some other Romance languages of Northern Italy, for example Venetian, articles proceed all personal names, and so this feature (though prescriptively proscribed for Standard Italian) may extend to these cases in dialects of Italian influenced by these languages.)}

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Notably, this is in fact a feature of the other two Romance languages you mention:

In Catalan, the article is required for almost all nouns, e.g.:

• el meu cotxe - DET my car
• la meva planta - DET my plant

But in certain dialects, with the following classes of noun:

• some kinship terms
• names of relatives
• the nouns casa ("house; home") and vida ("life")
• and in certain fossilised expressions

alternate forms (the weak/unstressed possessive adjectives) absent the definite article may be used (how common this is is dependent upon the specific dialect):

• mon avi, ta mare, ses nétes¹ - my grandfather, your mother, their granddaughters
• Sa Majestat - His/Her Majesty
• Vine a ma casa - Come to my house
• En ma vida no havia vist un espectacle semblant - Never in my life have I seen such a spectacle

^{1. Note that unlike Italian, in dialects of Catalan that have this feature it can also apply to plurals of kinship terms.}

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And in Portuguese when referring to singular kinship terms, the definite article may also be dropped (note: this is more common in Brazilian Portuguese than Iberian):

• Minha irmã mora em [sic] Alemanha - My sister lives in Germany
• Meu pai é engenheiro My father is an engineer

And in very formal/religious addresses:

• Pai Nosso, que está no céu… - Our Father, who art in heaven…
• Nosso Senhor - Our Lord
• Vossa Excelência - Your Excellence

And in a few fossilised expressions:

• a seu prazer
• por minha vontade
• a meu ver

etc

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Similar features are present in some non-Romance languages also.

In Mandarin Chinese, for family members, the possessive particle 的 (de) can be omitted:

• 我妈妈 (Wǒ māma) - I mother (meaning My mother)

instead of

• 我的妈妈 (Wǒ de māma) - I POSS mother (My mother)

Note: This construct can be used with certain other close but non-familial terms too:

• 我朋友 (Wǒ péngyǒu) - I friend (My friend)

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and also in Cantonese:

• 我姑姐 (nɡo⁵ gu¹ze¹) - I aunt (my aunt)
• 我嘅姑姐 (nɡo⁵ ɡe³ gu¹ze¹) - I POSS aunt (my aunt)

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Sources:

• ^{Acquisition, variation, change: On the definite article and kinship nouns in Italian}
• ^{Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione, Lorenzo Renzi (1988)}
• ^{Split Possession: An Areal-linguistic Study of the Alienability Correlation and Related Phenomena in the Languages of Europe}
• ^{The Uses of the Definite and Indefinite Article in Portuguese}
• ^{Kinship in grammar}
• ^{http://dcvb.iecat.net/results.asp?Word=mon "Ús literari i dialectal"}
• ^{Uso dell'articolo e dell'aggettivo possessivo coi nomi di parentela}
• ^{https://www.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/3myusr/why_does_italian_use_the_definite_article_for/}