scholarly journals Variation in differential object marking: On some differences between Spanish and Romanian

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 424-462
Author(s):  
Monica Alexandrina Irimia
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
Choice Functions ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Additional Operation ◽  
Object Marking

AbstractAlthough differential object marking (DOM) has been studied from a multitude of perspectives, research into the types of variation it allows in closely related languages is still needed. This article examines DOM from the point of view of (micro)variation, focusing on two genetically related languages, namely, standard Spanish and Romanian. Both identities and points of divergence are discussed in detail and argued to result from a morphosyntactic parameter in the realm of differential marking. Following López [López, Luis. 2012. Indefinite Objects Scrambling, Choice Functions and Differential Marking. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press], the Spanish special marker signals certain types of nominals which undergo short scrambling in order to have Case licensed. In Romanian, however, DOM is equated with an additional operation beyond the valuation of Case.

scholarly journals The impact of information structure on the emergence of differential object marking: an experimental study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shira Tal ◽  
Kenny Smith ◽  
Jennifer Culbertson ◽  
Eitan Grossman ◽  
Inbal Arnon
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Information Structure ◽  
Alternative Hypothesis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Language Typology ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
New Information ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
The Impact

Many languages exhibit differential object marking (DOM), where only certain types of grammatical objects are marked with morphological case. Traditionally, it has been claimed that DOM arises as a way to prevent ambiguity by marking objects that might otherwise be mistaken for subjects (e.g., animate objects). While some recent experimental work supports this account (Fedzechkina et al., 2012), research on language typology suggests at least one alternative hypothesis. In particular, DOM may instead arise as a way of marking objects that are atypical from the point of view of information structure. According to this account, rather than being marked to avoid ambiguity, objects are marked when they are given (already familiar in the discourse) rather than new. Here, we experimentally investigate this hypothesis using two artificial language learning experiments. We find that information structure impacts participants’ object-marking, but in an indirect way: atypical information structure leads to a change of word order, which then triggers increased object marking. Interestingly, this staged process of change is compatible with documented cases of DOM emergence (Iemmolo, 2013). We argue that this process is driven by two cognitive tendencies. First, a tendency to place discourse given information before new information, and second, a tendency to mark non-canonical word order. Taken together, our findings provide corroborating evidence for the role of information structure in the emergence of DOM systems.

scholarly journals On differential object marking in Southern and Central Selkup

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-186
Author(s):  
Hannah Wegener
Keyword(s):  
Information Structure ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Information Status ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Imperative Mood

The phenomenon of differential object marking has been investigated for a number of languages of the world. Studies have been carried out for individual languages as well as from a typological point of view. It is broadly described as an alternation in case marking of the direct objects. Triggers for the case alternation can be the referent’s animacy, information structure, modus, and definiteness among others. In the present study data from Central and Southern Selkup are investigated with respect to case marking of nominal and pronominal direct objects. Nominal direct objects exhibit instances of accusative and nominative marking while the latter show consistent accusative marking. Analyzing the contributing factors for the different kinds of case marking, imperative mood appeared to have an impact, the information status as well as structural properties of the object, i.e. whether it is part of a direct object phrase or coordination. Possessive direct objects behave similar in that they are mostly in accusative and only occasionally nominative marked. As opposed to the non-possessive direct objects, no variation in information status can be registered.Аннотация. Ханна Вегенер: О дифференцированном маркировании объекта в южном и центральном селькупском. Дифференциальное маркирование объекта было предметом исследования во многих языках мира. Такого рода исследования проводились как применительно к материалам отдельных языков, так и в типологическом аспекте. Дифференцированное маркирование объекта по сути является вариативностью в падежном оформлении объекта. Среди прочего на выбор падежа объекта влияют: одушевленность, коммуникативная структура предложения, модус и определенность. В настоящем исследовании данные центрального и южного селькупского исследуются с точки зрения падежного маркирования прямых объектов, выраженных именем существительным или местоимением. Объект, выраженный существительным, допускает аккузативное и номинативное оформление, в то время как объект, выраженный местоимением, последователен в использовании аккузатива. В процессе анализа возможных факторов было выявлено, что влияние оказывают повелительное наклонение, коммуникативный статус, а также структурные особенности объекта: является ли он частью большей группы или конструкции с однородными членами. Посессивные прямые объекты ведут себя похоже, поскольку предпочитают аккузативное оформление и лишь изредка номинативное. Однако в отличие от непосессивных объектов у них не наблюдалось вариативности в оформлении, обусловленной коммуникативной структурой.Ключевые слова: падежное оформление актантов, дифференциальное маркирование объекта, уральские языки, самодийские языки, селькупский язык, синтаксисKokkuvõte. Hannah Wegener: Eristavast objektimarkeeringust lõuna- ja kesksölkupi keeltes. Eristava objektimarkeeringu nähtust on uuritud hulgas maailma keeltes. Uurimusi on läbi viidud nii üksikute keelte tasandil kui ka tüpoloogilisest vaatenurgast. Üldiselt kirjeldatakse eristavat objektimarkeeringut kui osasihitise käände varieerumist. Faktorid, mis variatsiooni põhjustavad, on muuhulgas viidatava elusus, infostruktuur, kõneviis, ja definiitsus. Selles uurimuses vaadeldakse kesk- ja lõunasölkupi keelematerjali pidades silmas käänd- ja asesõnaliste täissihitiste käändeid. Käändsõnalised täissihitised esinevad akusatiivis ja nominatiivis, samas kui asesõnalised täissihitised on järjepidevalt akusatiivis. Uurides erinevat käändevalikut põhjustavaid faktoreid, näib käskival kõneviisil olevat mõju nii infostruktuurile kui ka sihitise struktuurilistele omadustele, st kas see on osa sihitis-fraasist või koordinatsioonist. Possessiivsed täissihitised käituvad sarnaselt ja esinevad peamiselt akusatiivis ning vaid üksikutel juhtudel ka nominatiivis. Vastupidiselt mittepossessiivsetele täissihitistele ei ilmne siin infostaatuse variatsioone.Märksõnad: argumendimarkeering, eristav objektimarkeering, uurali keeled, samojeedi keeled, sölkup, süntaks

Morpho-syntactic Variation in Romance v: A Micro-parametric Approach

Probus ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 401-437
Author(s):  
Ángel J. Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Romance Languages ◽  
Parametric Approach ◽  
Syntactic Variation ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
University Of Leiden ◽  
Parametric Variation ◽  
Syntactic Theory ◽  
Auxiliary Selection ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Syntactic Properties

AbstractThis paper discusses a series of morpho-syntactic properties of Romance languages that have the functional projection vP as its locus, showing a continuum that goes from strongly configurational Romance languages to partially configurational Romance languages. It is argued that v-related phenomena like Differential Object Marking (DOM), participial agreement, oblique clitics, auxiliary selection, and others align in a systematic way when it comes to inflectional properties that involve Case-agreement properties. In order to account for the facts, I argue for a micro-parametric approach whereby v can be associated with an additional projection subject to variation (cf. D’Alessandro, Merging Probes. A typology of person splits and person-driven differential object marking. Ms., University of Leiden, 2012; Microvariation and syntactic theory. What dialects tell us about language. Invited talk given at the workshop The Syntactic Variation of Catalan and Spanish Dialects, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, June 26–28, 2013; Ordóñez, Cartography of postverbal subjects in Spanish and Catalan. In Sergio Baauw, Frank AC Drijkoningen & Manuela Pinto (eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory 2005: Selected papers from ‘Going Romance’, Utrecht, 8–10 December 2005, 259–280. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2007). I label such projection “X,” arguing that its feature content and position varies across Romance. More generally, the present paper aims at contributing to our understanding of parametric variation of closely related languages by exploiting the intuition, embodied in the so-called Borer-Chomsky Conjecture, that linguistic variation resides in the functional inventory of the lexicon.

The processing of case in near-native Spanish

2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Jegerski
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Sentence Comprehension ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
First Language ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Case Marker ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
Case Markers ◽  
Ditransitive Constructions

This article reports a study that sought to determine whether non-native sentence comprehension can show sensitivity to two different types of Spanish case marking. Sensitivity to case violations was generally more robust with indirect objects in ditransitive constructions than with differential object marking of animate direct objects, even among native speakers of Spanish, which probably reflects linguistic differences in the two types of case. In addition, the overall outcome of two experiments shows that second language (L2) processing can integrate case information, but that, unlike with native processing, attention to a case marker may depend on the presence of a preverbal clitic as an additional cue to the types of postverbal arguments that might occur in a stimulus. Specifically, L2 readers showed no sensitivity to differential object marking with a in the absence of clitics in the first experiment, with stimuli such as Verónica visita al/el presidente todos los meses ‘Veronica visits the[ACC/NOM]president every month’, but the L2 readers in the second experiment showed native-like sensitivity to the same marker when the object it marked was doubled by the clitic lo, as in Verónica lo visita al/el presidente todos los meses. With indirect objects, on the other hand, sensitivity to case markers was native-like in both experiments, although indirect objects were also always doubled by the preverbal clitic le. The apparent first language / second language contrast suggests differences in processing strategy, whereby non-native processing of morphosyntax may rely more on the predictability of forms than does native processing.

Typology and diachrony of converbs in Indo-Aryan

Diachronica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krzysztof Stroński ◽  
Leonid Kulikov
Keyword(s):  
Recent Discussion ◽  
Verbal System ◽  
Holistic View ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Role And Reference Grammar ◽  
Reference Grammar ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
The One

Abstract Non-finite forms constitute an important component of the verbal system of Indo-Aryan (IA) languages. On the one hand, some of them, such as e.g., converbs, have already received proper attention in historical linguistics and typological literature, with regard to Old Indo-Aryan (OIA), Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) and New Indo-Aryan (NIA) (cf. Tikkanen 1987; Peterson 1998; Subbarao 2012 among others). Other forms, such as participles, have usually been analysed in the wider context of reorganisation of a finite verbal system which led to alignment change (for recent discussion see Dahl and Stroński 2016). On the other hand, adverbial participles or infinitives have so far been under-studied (cf. Sigorski 2005), particularly within early NIA. This period in the history of IA languages witnessed several important morphosyntactic developments and still requires in-depth study, particularly due to the lack of well-edited corpora. The aim of the present paper is to partly fill this gap by highlighting major trends in the development of constructions based on various non-finite forms in early NIA. We focus on main argument marking in converbal chain constructions and its interplay with the animacy hierarchy. We demonstrate a relative stability of differential case marking (DCM), focusing mainly on conditions on differential subject marking (DSM) and differential object marking (DOM). In addition, we compare converbal chain constructions with participial absolute constructions (AC). Finally, in order to give a holistic view of converbal constructions, we verify the type of linking instantiated by them, focusing on three scopal parameters in converbal constructions (Tense, Illocutionary Force and Negation) and using the apparatus of Role and Reference Grammar and Multivariate Analysis.

Generative Approaches to Syntax

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simin Karimi
Keyword(s):  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
Resultative Constructions ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
And Control ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

This chapter offers an overview of some of the major syntactic and morphosyntactic properties of Persian. Of the topics introduced in this chapter, three have extensively been examined by various researchers over several decades: complex predicates, Ezafe constructions, and differential object marking. Issues related to scrambling, wh-constructions, and raising and control have also been discussed. Some of the issues introduced in this chapter have not been thoroughly examined in the literature. For example, problems related to complex DPs, specifically with respect to extraposition of the CP out of the complex DP, require close attention. Furthermore, the nature of resultative constructions, and whether Persian allows secondary predicate constructions need to be examined. Finally, this chapter touches on some topics that are under-studied: modality, negation, aspect, ellipsis, and sluicing. Due to the descriptive nature of this chapter, theoretical considerations are not thoroughly discussed, although briefly mentioned in some cases.

Specific Features of Persian Syntax

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pollet Samvelian
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Studies ◽  
Complex Predicates ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Object Marking ◽  
The Way

This chapter is devoted to three specific features of Persian syntax, namely, the Ezafe construction, differential object marking with the enclitic rā, and complex predicates, which have received a great deal of attention for more than thirty years. Each of these phenomena involves language-specific challenging facts which need to be accurately described and accounted for. At the same time, each constitutes a topic of cross-linguistic investigation for which the Persian data can be of crucial interest. The chapter is divided into three sections. Each section provides an overview of empirical facts and the way various theoretical studies have tried to account for them. While it was impossible to do justice to all influential studies because of the impressive amount of work on each topic, the article is nevertheless intended to be as exhaustive as possible and to maintain the balance between different theoretical approaches.

scholarly journals The Components of Sideward Movement in the Verb Copying Construction in Mandarin Chinese

2015 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-58
Author(s):  
Pei-Jung Kuo
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Differential Object Marking ◽  
Movement Mechanism ◽  
Extended Analysis ◽  
Object Marking

Abstract In this paper, I explore the components of the sideward movement involved in the verb copying construction proposed by Cheng (2007). I first present some facts of the resultative de-clause of the verb copying construction which seems to be puzzling under Cheng’s analysis. An extended analysis is then proposed. Under the extended analysis, I propose that the sideward movement mechanism involved in the resultative de-clause can be further analyzed as internal topicalization plus differential object marking. This analysis of sideward movement is also attested in the manner de-clause of the verb copying construction. The proposed components relate the sideward movement in the verb copying construction to the syntactic mechanisms which are also observed widely in Mandarin Chinese and other languages.

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