Differential object marking in Modern Romanian

2021 ◽  
pp. 96-137
Author(s):  
Virginia Hill ◽  
Alexandru Mardale
Keyword(s):  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Default Option ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
Clitic Left Dislocation ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

Chapter 4 focuses on DOM in Modern Romanian, for both direct and indirect objects. The data are organized according to the type of DOM mechanisms, with separate sections for CD, DOM-p, and CD+DOM-p. The pragmatic effects noticed for Old Romanian DOM are re-assessed, considering that the contrasting interpretation of CD versus DOM-p is neutralized. The major changes concern the loss of CD with direct objects and its recycling in conjunction with DOM-p. While DOM-p declines and becomes more specialized for the end of the specificity scale, CD+DOM-p turns into the default option for DOM with direct objects, as opposed to CD, which becomes the default option for DOM with indirect objects. Increased productivity for CD+DOM-p coincides with the parallel expansion of Clitic Left Dislocation in the language, which completely replaces the constituent fronting through Topicalization.

The acquisition of differential object marking in Hindi as a foreign language

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaricia Ponnet ◽  
Kristof Baten ◽  
Saartje Verbeke
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Grammatical Structure ◽  
Heritage Speakers ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Foreign Language Learners ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

This article explores a grammatical structure — differential object marking (DOM) — that is particularly difficult for L2 learners to acquire. DOM is a phenomenon in which some direct objects are morphologically marked and others are not. In Hindi, animate direct objects are always marked with the objective case marker ko, whereas specific direct objects are only optionally marked with ko. Inanimate and non-specific direct objects are never marked with ko and take the unmarked nominative form. DOM in Hindi has been found to pose a problem to heritage speakers of Hindi. The present study investigates whether similar difficulties exist for foreign language learners. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 30 foreign language learners of Hindi completing an oral production task. The results suggest that the learners do not have difficulties with the concept of DOM in itself — they know that not every direct object needs to be marked —, but rather with the variable conditions under which DOM occurs. The study defines five developmental profiles, which reflect a gradual accumulation of contexts appropriately marked with the objective case.

Differential object marking and object scrambling in the Guaraní language cluster

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-55
Author(s):  
Eva-Maria Roessler
Keyword(s):  
Differential Treatment ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Functional Domain ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Base Position ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Parallel Data ◽  
Applicative Constructions ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

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.

scholarly journals Topicality and differential object marking

2010 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Iemmolo
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Comparative Data ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Semantic Features ◽  
Personal Pronouns ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
The Relationship

The present paper investigates the relationship between dislocation and differential object marking in some Romance languages. As in many languages that have a DOM system, it is usually also assumed that in Romance languages the phenomenon is regulated by the semantic features of the referents, such as animacy, definiteness, and specificity. In the languages under investigation, though, these features cannot explain the distribution and the emergence of DOM. After discussing the main theoretical approaches to the phenomenon, I will analyse DOM in four Romance languages. I will argue that DOM emerges in pragmatically and semantically marked contexts, namely with personal pronouns in dislocations. I will then show that in these languages the use of the DOM system is mainly motivated by the need to signal the markedness of these direct objects as a consequence of being used in (mainly left) dislocation as topics (cf. English “As for him, we didn’t see him”). Finally, the examination of comparative data from Persian and Amazonian languages lends further support to the advocated approach in terms of information structure

scholarly journals Are dislocated direct objects clause-external? Evidence from differential object marking

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Giorgio Iemmolo
Keyword(s):  
Verb Second ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Fundamental Assumption ◽  
External Evidence ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Verbal Arguments

<p>The aim of this paper is twofold. First, I examine the frequent cross-linguistic connection between Differential Object Marking (henceforth, DOM) and dislocated position, as well as the co-occurrence of DOM and Differential Object Indexation (henceforth, DOI) on the verb. Second, I discuss some severe problems these data pose for the fundamental assumption, shared by linguists of different theoretical persuasions, that i) verbal arguments can be expressed only once within the clause, and ii) that dislocated constituents have to be clause-external.</p>

scholarly journals Nominal licensing is driven by valued (phi-)features

Nordlyd ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Kalin
Keyword(s):  
Short Paper ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
New Model ◽  
Person Case Constraint ◽  
Abstract Case ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Case Feature

This short paper lays out the components of a new model of nominal licensing, motivated by novel observations about parallels between the Person Case Constraint and Differential Object Marking. The model revolves around the idea that valued features on nominals---namely, phi-features and features related to definiteness and animacy---are the sorts of features that need abstract licensing, rather than an abstract Case feature. This model helps us understand where differential marking and featural restrictions occur, and in particular, why it is that subjects and indirect objects, in contrast to direct objects, tend not to be differentially marked or featurally restricted. 

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

Rhema ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 61-76
Author(s):  
N. Pakhmutova
Keyword(s):  
Explanatory Models ◽  
Explanatory Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Object ◽  
Romance Languages ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Didactic Literature ◽  
Educational Literature ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking

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.

scholarly journals A Study of DOM in Asturian (‘Dialectu Vaqueiru’)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-140
Author(s):  
Avelino Corral Esteban
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Ancestral Form ◽  
Northwestern Spain ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
And Function

The present paper explores Differential Object Marking in a variety of Asturian (Western Iberian Romance) spoken in western Asturias (northwestern Spain). This ancestral form of speech stands out from Central Asturian and especially from Standard Spanish. For a number of reasons, ranging from profound changes in pronunciation, vocabulary, morphology and information structure to slight but very relevant effects on syntax. The main goal of this study is to examine the special marking of direct objects in order to find out what triggers the distribution of Differential Object Marking in this variety. To this aim, this paper will examine, from a variationist perspective, the influence of a number of semantic and discourse-pragmatic parameters on the marking of direct objects in this Western Asturian language as well as in Standard Spanish 1 and Central Asturian (which is generally considered the normative variety of Asturian). The results obtained from this comparison will allow us to outline the differences between these three varieties in terms of object marking, shedding more light on the origin and function of Differential Object Marking in Spanish.

scholarly journals From Proto-Hungarian SOV to Old Hungarian Top Foc V X

Diachronica ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalin É. Kiss
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Basic Word ◽  
Order Change ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Word Order Change

This paper argues that Hungarian underwent a word order change from SOV to Top Foc V X* prior to its documented history beginning in 1192. Proto-Hungarian SOV is reconstructed primarily on the basis of shared constructions of archaic Old Hungarian, and Khanty and Mansi, the sister languages of Hungarian. The most likely scenario of the change from head-final to head-initial was the spreading of right dislocation, and the reanalysis of right dislocated elements by new generations of speakers as arguments in situ. In Hungarian — as opposed to Khanty and Mansi — right dislocation was facilitated by the extension of differential object marking to all direct objects. The change in basic word order initiated the restructuring of other parts of Hungarian grammar as well, which is a still ongoing process. [As of June 2015, this article is available as Open Access under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 license.]

scholarly journals A further argument for a syncretic analysis of DOM and dative in Spanish

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-73
Author(s):  
Carlos Muñoz Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Free Relatives ◽  
Dative Case ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Free Relative ◽  
Left Dislocation ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Repairing Effect ◽  
Object Marking

AbstractThis paper offers an argument to analyse the Spanish form /a/ as a syncretic case marker for accusative differential object marking (dom) and dative. The literature on free relative clauses has established that syncretism allows the repair of feature mismatches arising from contradictory selectional requirements between the matrix and the embedded predicates. By combining clitic left dislocation constructions (CLLD) and free relatives, it is shown here that dom and dative grant the same repairing effect in Spanish, so it follows that they must be syncretic categories. The same type of configuration distinguishes the directional preposition a and the dative case marker, which is taken to indicate that these elements are mere homophones in the language. Furthermore, an analysis of the repairing effect of syncretism is offered.

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