"Some": an emergent article?

[cema]

Was in a cafe today, heard the waiter say: "I will be back with some menu".

Normal usage to me, but a friend (lives outside of the US) was amused. Like, will she just choose a random menu? Anyway, it does seem that "some" is often taking place of "a" in spoken American English. But does it qualify as an article? I wonder if linguists have anything to say about this.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grisha/]

Oops, I didn't read your comment carefully enough. I thought you said it does depend on whether the noun is "countable" or "uncountable," and in fact, I'm pretty sure it does. Some for an "uncountable" noun refers to an arbitrary amount, whereas some for a "countable" noun refers to an arbitrary item. Compare e.g. "some water" vs. "some whale." I do not think that these have mingled in the least. Yet another meaning emerges when a "countable" noun is used in the plural, in which case the word some does indeed become like a plural indefinite article (comparable, say, to unos in Spanish).

Explanation

[cema.livejournal.com]

You are talking about what is written in a textbook, and I am talking about what I hear on the street. Of course, grammatically modern English "some" is supposed to be used in a different way whether it refers to a countable or uncountable noun. But the language evolves, and I think we all can see that. (Might I add: and we should all see to it!)

Re: Explanation

[http://users.livejournal.com/_grisha/]

I agree with you entirely on the point of elementary textbooks vs. the real thing (which, however, might be found in a more advanced text on sociolinguistics or whatnot), though I'd like to mention that I am not referring to any textbook here, but purely to my analysis of English as I hear it. In fact, it seems to me, purely from thinking about it, that mingling the meanings of "some" for countable and uncountable nouns would produce results that make no sense, ranging from "I will be back with an arbitrary amount of menu" to "I will be back with a random water."

[cema.livejournal.com]

That last thing is what caused me to post this in the first place. Because I have actually heard it.