The literature on the use of articles in L2 varieties of English reports both the overuse and the underuse of the definite article. An excellent synoptic discussion of such apparently contradictory results is Sand (2004). Because L2 English varieties have developed in a sociolinguistic environment where they were in contact with indigenous languages, Sand (2004: 284–287) reviews what research findings show about ‘substrate influence on article use’. Two substrate languages she mentions (p. 286) as examples are Hindi (which is expected to have influenced Indian English) and Swahili (which is expected to have influenced Kenyan English). Regarding Indian English she writes: ‘Typically, we find reference to a “lack of articles” in descriptions of contact varieties like Indian English [ . . . ]’ (p. 286). But a few lines later she adds this:

However, Sedlatscheck (forthcoming: 105) also finds for his Indian data that, apart from zero articles, the largest number of what he calls ‘article substitutions’ occur in the category of the definite article. Thus, the definite article is used instead of the zero or indefinite article expected according to standard English usage. (p. 286)

关于英语 L2 变体冠词使用的文献报道了定冠词的过度使用和使用不足。 Sand (2004) 对这种明显矛盾的结果进行了精彩的概要讨论。由于二语英语变体是在与土著语言接触的社会语言环境中发展起来的，Sand (2004: 284–287) 回顾了有关“基底对冠词使用的影响”的研究结果。她提到的两种基础语言（第 286 页）作为例子是印地语（预计会影响印度英语）和斯瓦希里语（预计会影响肯尼亚英语）。关于印度英语，她写道：“通常，我们在印度英语等接触变体的描述中发现“缺乏冠词”。 。 。 ]'（第286页）。但几行之后她又补充道：

然而，Sedlatscheck（即将发表：105）还从他的印度数据中发现，除了零冠词之外，他所谓的“冠词替换”的最大数量出现在定冠词类别中。因此，使用定冠词而不是根据标准英语用法预期的零或不定冠词。 （第 286 页）