 It could also be the case that syntactic objects like the definite and indefinite determiners may not even be as syntactically simple as they appear.  As noted above, Schwarz (2009) observed that there are languages in which morphologically distinct words are used to express uniqueness and familiarity. Following Stake (2009) and others working in “nanosyntax,” this would create some pressure to say that the definite determiner in English might not be a single functional head, but is “smeared” across a larger phrase structure that has separate functional heads for expressing uniqueness and familiarity.  The English determiner ends up being exploded across the phrase structure.