The Role of Semantic Type in Differential Object Marking

Spanish, like many other languages (e.g. Hindi), exhibits differential object marking (DOM). It is well-known that DOM seems to be sensitive to the animacy and/or specificity of the direct object (Bossong 1985, Aissen 2003). It is argued here that the Spanish prepositional accusative, or a-marking, is a realization of the features [+accusative] and [+animate] within a nominal projection containing a determiner (D). Nominal projections lacking D are property-denoting and are not a-marked. I show that there is a direct map between the presence or absence of a-marking and the semantic type of the (animate) direct object nominal.

Differential Object Marking in Tuvan language: dependence on the function and nature of the definition

Languages and Folklore of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia ◽

10.25205/2312-6337-2021-1-154-162 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 154-162

Author(s):

Ch. G. Ondar

Keyword(s):

Direct Object ◽

Nominal Group ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Object Marking ◽

Communicative Role ◽

Language Dependence

For the Tuvan language, factors influencing Differential Object Marking remain uncovered despite extensive studies on the topic. This is due to the numerous cases of forms of the primary and accusative cases of the direct object replacing each other without noticeably changing the meaning of the sentence. Thus, it is necessary to elucidate all the causes of variation and establish their interactions. The current study focuses on the dependence of the direct object labeling on the function and the nature of the definition in the Tuvan language. The paper highlights the interaction of semantic, syntactic, communicative, and pragmatic factors influencing the choice of labeling. The analysis revealed that the direct object with the definition as a whole does not require a case. Firstly, the semantics of definition occupies a decisive place, as in the case of indexical pronouns (as a means of expressing anaphoric and deictic meanings). Secondly, the communicative role of the defined object in the utterance is of significance. The definition acts as a link between the object defined and the previous reference to that object, indicating information about the object that is already familiar to the addressee. Thirdly, discursive factors are distinct and important, including the speaker’s intention to clarify the referent or generalize by different means the meaning of the referent in the discourse depending on his or her goal. Thus, the referential properties of definitions alone do not allow unambiguously predicting the labeling of the nominal group.

Differential object marking and object scrambling in the Guaraní language cluster

Lingvisticae Investigationes ◽

10.1075/li.00028.roe ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 42 (1) ◽

pp. 31-55

Author(s):

Eva-Maria Roessler

Keyword(s):

Differential Treatment ◽

Direct Object ◽

Functional Domain ◽

Base Position ◽

Case Marker ◽

Parallel Data ◽

Applicative Constructions ◽

Direct Objects ◽

Abstract The parallel data discussed in this article suggest that in Guaraní languages differential objects seem far from being exclusively highlighted in morphology. Instead, the Guaraní dom systems exhibit a differential treatment of certain direct objects within narrow syntax. Focusing on [+animate] direct objects, I supply evidence that [+dom] direct objects scramble out of their base position into a higher, vP-internal, projection, namely αP (following López 2012). This short DO scrambling is derived including data from simple transitive, ditransitive, and applicative constructions as well as from object conjunction. The short scrambling within vP is followed by further direct object dislocation into a higher functional domain, an operation described in literature as triggered by φ-feature under T° and targeting a specifier in an expanded functional domain (Freitas 2011b). DOs that move out of their base position may be marked with the overt case marker, homophonous with dat case. The homophony between dat and dom is conceived as morphological opacity in the Guaraní case. Syntactically, however, [+dom] DOs pattern together with their zero-marked acc counterparts, rather than with indirect objects.

Humanness in the 3rd Person Singular Personal Pronoun in Alemannic Dialects

Journal of Germanic Linguistics ◽

10.1017/s1470542717000150 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 307-334

Author(s):

Raffaela Baechler

Keyword(s):

Pilot Study ◽

Direct Object ◽

Personal Pronoun ◽

German Dialects ◽

Form Part ◽

This paper surveys the emergence of the categoryhumannessin the 3rd person singular personal pronoun in Alemannic (southwest German) dialects. The first part shows that some Alemannic dialects have developed a human/nonhuman distinction in the 3rd person singular neuter personal pronoun: a marked form encoding the human direct object has emerged. The emergence of this form can be explained by the differential object marking hypothesis. The second part reports on a pilot study of the 3rd person singular personal pronoun in Sense Alemannic on the basis of new data. In this dialect, humanness is distinguished not only in the neuter but also in the masculine and feminine. Additionally, some instances are observed that violate the differential object marking principle. Thus, both principles (humanness marking and the differential object marking) form part of the grammar, but the latter one may be violated.*

Differential object marking in Ibero-Romance languages: Explanatory models in domestic and Russian educational literature

Rhema ◽

10.31862/2500-2953-2019-2-61-76 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 61-76

Author(s):

N. Pakhmutova

Keyword(s):

Explanatory Models ◽

Explanatory Model ◽

The Other ◽

Direct Object ◽

Romance Languages ◽

Didactic Literature ◽

Educational Literature ◽

Direct Objects ◽

Differential object marking / dom is the term for the phenomenon of distinguishing two classes of direct objects, one bearing a special marker, while the other lacking it. In modern linguistics, the marker licensing is partially or fully attributed to the features of a direct object: Animacy/Inanimacy and referential status. Russian didactic literature generally contains a reduced explanatory model of Spanish dom, based on the grammar of the Royal Spanish Academy. For Catalan, the explanatory model is complicated by the usus/norm split, the latter reducing the phenomenon’s scope. The paper focuses on the improvement of dom explanatory models for Spanish and Catalan.

The double object constructions in Archaic Chinese*

Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale ◽

10.1163/1960602808x00028 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 37 (1) ◽

pp. 43-84

Author(s):

Chiew Pheng PHUA ◽

PHUA Chiew Pheng

Keyword(s):

Low Frequency ◽

Direct Object ◽

Semantic Role ◽

Double Object ◽

Double Object Construction ◽

Indirect Object ◽

Object Construction ◽

Archaic Chinese ◽

This article demonstrates that double object constructions in Archaic Chinese display both patterns of direct and indirect object marking (DO+IO) and primary and secondary object marking (PO+SO). We propose two constraints to account for the grammatical distribution of GIVE verbs in the double object construction with PO+SO marking in Archaic Chinese. The first constraint is syntactic and explains why verbs like xiàn ? 'offer' cannot occur in the double object construction with PO+SO marking, unless the semantic role of recipient is available for mapping onto direct object in a monotransitive clause. A second constraint on animacy is proposed to explain the low frequency of two animate, particularly two human NPs, in the postverbal position for verbs like qī ? 'marry'.

Differential Object Marking in Spanish: state of the art

Borealis – An International Journal of Hispanic Linguistics ◽

10.7557/1.2.2.2603 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 1 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Antonio Fábregas

Keyword(s):

Current Literature ◽

State Of The Art ◽

The Other ◽

Direct Object ◽

Font Size ◽

Internal Properties ◽

Object Marking ◽

Syntactic Properties

This state of the art tries to cover as much as possible about the properties, conditions and analyses of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Spanish. Starting with some considerations about the boundaries of the phenomenon, it considers its morphological, semantic and syntactic properties –with respect both to the internal properties of the direct object and to the wider context in which it appears–. It also reviews the other morphosyntactic phenomena that have been claimed to correlate with DOM, and finally goes through a number of analysis in different theoretical traditions to highlight the points of agreement and debate in the current literature.

Asimetrías gramaticales asociadas a la animacidad en la lengua vasca: una perspectiva tipológica / Animacy-based grammatical asymmetries in Basque: a typological perspective

Anuario del Seminario de Filología Vasca Julio de Urquijo ◽

10.1387/asju.20209 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 52 (1/2) ◽

pp. 381 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Iván Igartua ◽

Ekaitz Santazilia

Keyword(s):

Language Contact ◽

Grammatical Gender ◽

The Other ◽

Case Assignment ◽

Case Marking ◽

Other Hand ◽

Object Marking ◽

The One

This study provides a typological analysis of two phenomena related to case-marking in Basque. In both of them, animacy —or the distinction between what is animate and what is not— turns out to be determinant: we discuss case assignment to direct objects, on the one hand, and marking of locative cases, on the other hand. We have compared the two phenomena with diverse typological parallels in order to account for the variety of possible morphological strategies and identify particular conditions and restrictions. Furthermore, we have argued that differential object marking in Basque is a recent phenomenon, induced by language contact, whereas differential locative marking has an intralinguistic nature. Finally, we have defended that the role of animacy in both types of differential marking is different: in the first example it conditions case assignment and in the second it operates as a grammatical gender.

Oblique differential object marking and types of nominals

The Canadian Journal of Linguistics / La revue canadienne de linguistique ◽

10.1017/cnj.2021.28 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-33

Author(s):

Monica Alexandrina Irimia

Keyword(s):

Mandarin Chinese ◽

Additional Mechanism ◽

Case Licensing ◽

Abstract The question of whether differentially marked objects should be linked with Case licensing or some other mechanism in the grammar has given rise to numerous debates. Addressing contexts of differential object marking (DOM) with oblique morphology, this article shows that, while the Case licensing approach might be adequate for varieties of Spanish, oblique differential marking rather signals an independent licensing operation, beyond Case, in languages like Romanian, Gujarati or Mandarin Chinese. This additional mechanism, relevant at the syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface, tracks the role of grammaticalized animates or how the speaker relates to other entities in the discourse. Additionally, the data examined here indicate that objects can come in a variety of sizes and structures, with distinct licensing constraints, such that the divide Case licensed/unlicensed or Case licensing/(pseudo-)incorporation is not enough.

REFLEXÕES SOBRE A MARCAÇÃO MORFOLÓGICA DO OBJETO DIRETO POR A EM PORTUGUÊS BRASILEIRO | OBSERVATIONS ON THE MORPHOLOGICAL A-MARKING OF DIRECT OBJECTS IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE

Estudos Linguísticos e Literários ◽

10.9771/ell.v0i58.26807 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 83

Author(s):

Sônia Cyrino

Keyword(s):

Brazilian Portuguese ◽

The Other ◽

Direct Object ◽

Romance Languages ◽

Romance Language ◽

Other Hand ◽

Direct Objects ◽

Como é sabido, o espanhol é uma língua românica que requer que certos objetos diretos (OD) sejam morfologicamente marcados por a, a chamada Marcação Diferencial do Objeto (DOM). Em outras línguas românicas, tais como o português europeu e brasileiro, por outro lado, objetos diretos animados não são geralmente marcados. Contudo, vários estudos diacrônicos mostram que a marcação morfológica por a do objeto direto era possível nos séculos XVI a XVIII em português, e houve um declínio nesse uso a partir dessa época. Interessantemente, no português brasileiro a marcação do objeto direto por a é ainda possível (ou opcional) em alguns contextos restritos. Neste trabalho, observo o espanhol e o português brasileiro para mostrar que essas línguas são diferentes com relação à marcação por a do objeto direto, mas semelhantes com relação ao fato de que objetos diretos animados são computados externamente ao vP. O trabalho pretende contribuir para a discussão dos efeitos da animacidade do objeto direto na sintaxe.Abstract: As is well-known, Spanish is a Romance language which requires that certain direct objects (DO) be morphologically marked by the preposition “a” (to), the so-called Differential Object Marking (DOM). In other Romance languages, such as European and Brazilian Portuguese, on the other hand, animate direct objects are not generally marked. However, several diachronic studies show that the morphological a-marking of the direct object was possible from the 16th to 18th centuries in Portuguese, and there was a decline of that use from then on. Interestingly, in Brazilian Portuguese, DO a-marking is still possible (or optional) in some restricted contexts. In this paper, I look at Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese to show that these languages are different with respect to the occurrence of the a-marking of the DO, but similar in relation to the fact that animate direct objects are moved to a position above the vP. This paper aims to contribute to the discussion on the effects ofanimacy of direct objects in syntax.

Non-canonical case marking on subjects in Russian and Lithuanian

Evolutionary Linguistic Theory ◽

10.1075/elt.00010.mag ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 175-196

Author(s):

Marco Magnani

Keyword(s):

Information Structure ◽

Semantic Features ◽

Nominative Case ◽

Case Marking ◽

The Subject ◽

New Perspective ◽

Object Marking ◽

Role Of Information

Abstract In case-marking languages with nominative-accusative alignment the subject of a sentence is usually marked by nominative case. In some of these languages, however, the subject of a number of verbs is either consistently or alternately marked by another, non-nominative case. Such non-canonical case marking has often been approached in the linguistic literature as a phenomenon at the interface between syntax and semantics. Yet the predictions of this kind of approach seem more probabilistic than regular. This paper offers a new perspective to analyse the phenomenon, which encompasses the role of information structure in case marking. Drawing on Silverstein’s (1976) theory of differential subject marking and Dalrymple & Nikolaeva’s (2011) approach to differential object marking, it is argued that non-canonically case-marked subjects can be better analysed as instances of either non-topical subjects or subjects lacking one or more semantic features typical of topicality. The approach outlined in the paper is tested on a number of constructions in Russian and Lithuanian. It is shown how, in both languages, the analysed instances of non-canonically case-marked subjects exhibit a complex interplay among grammatical, semantic and discourse-pragmatic factors.