Differential Object Marking and Language Contact: An Introduction to this Special Issue

Mardale, Alexandru; Καρατσαρέας, Πέτρος

doi:10.1163/19552629-bja10001

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Considering that Finnic DAM is very complex and typologically quite unique, the transfer of such a system to another language may seem unlikely. However, it turns out that contactinduced DAM systems are attested around the world, for example in Arawakan and Basque (Mardale & Karatsareas 2020). In fact, pattern replication in general has been observed to be rather unconstrained: all domains of language structures and use can be affected, which can lead to a high degree of interlingual structural convergence (Heine & Kuteva 2005: 261).…”

Section: Dam As Pattern Replicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syntax in transition

Mettovaara

2023

FJL

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This paper is an investigation of a language contact phenomenon currently taking place in Aanaar (Inari) Saami, an indigenous minority language of Finland. Aanaar Saami people have been in contact with Finnish speakers for centuries, so much so that the language community has become bilingual. This has resulted in the borrowing of both numerous Finnish loanwords and even some syntactic constructions into Aanaar Saami and seems to herald a larger change in the language. The present study focuses on a type of syntactic change called differential argument marking, which is examined in three Aanaar Saami clause types: transitive clauses, existential clauses, and passive verb clauses. Finnish exhibits complex argument marking, characterized by a total–partial distinction, whereas traditional Aanaar Saami does not have differential argument marking in subjects or objects. However, new Aanaar Saami shows multiple emergent types of differential argument marking that vary between individual speakers and, while clearly influenced by Finnish, do not always mirror their Finnish equivalents one-to-one. This, and the observation that differential argument marking is non-existent in older language materials, suggests that the phenomenon is recentFinnish influence.

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Section: Dam As Pattern Replicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Syntax in transition

Mettovaara

2023

FJL

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“…Only certain languages exhibit the marking of direct objects, but not others (Aissen 2003). Within the Romance language group, DOM is evident in several languages, including Spanish and Romanian (Irimia and Mardale 2023;Mardale and Karatsareas 2020;Montrul et al 2015;von Heusinger and Kaiser 2007). For example, DOM in Spanish is lexicalized in the fake preposition "a" (López Otero 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Differential Object Marker in Valencian: Another Failure of Prescriptivism

Iranzo

2024

Languages

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A rich tradition of studies on languages with differential object marking (DOM) is available in the literature. Languages like Spanish or Romanian are frequently cited in discussions about DOM, but Valencian is seldom mentioned in this context. This oversight may stem from a lack of familiarity with the Valencian language and an over-reliance on guidelines set by textbooks and official prescriptive grammars—in the case of Valencian, by the Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua—which drafts the linguistic regulations of the Valencian language. This study aimed to analyze the usage of the DOM in Valencian and explore the social variables that help explain this usage (sex, age, and education). To achieve this goal, Spanish–Valencian bilingual participants completed an oral production task to evaluate their use of DOM in Valencian. Statistical analysis revealed that Valencian is a DOM language that marks direct objects that refer to humans and definite entities. These results point to the linguistic ideologies in Valencia that attempt to artificially create linguistic differentiation between Valencian and Spanish, the co-official languages in the region. Furthermore, the results emphasize the limitations of top-down prescriptive policies in modifying vernacular linguistic varieties.

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“…In the case-marking phenomenon of interest here, by contrast, the presence or absence of case marking is first and foremost determined by the position of S/A arguments relative to the verb. Chappell and Verstraete (2019) offer their typology in an effort to distinguish types of case marking that often get conflated under the term 'differential' object/subject/argument marking, a vibrant area of current research (e.g., Fauconnier 2011; Mardale and Karatsareas 2020;Witzlack-Makarevich and Seržant 2018). Their primary focus is on 'optional' and 'alternating' case marking, and the role of constituent order in construction-based splits is only briefly mentioned.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Split case marking and constituent order in Nilotic languages

Mitchell,

Lorenzen,

Gertrud

et al. 2024

Preprint

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This paper presents a survey of split case marking across the Nilotic languages of East Africa. Expanding on König’s (2008) original insights, the survey is set within Chappell and Verstraete’s (2019) typology on alternations and optionalities in case marking, taking into account all accessible descriptions. It confirms the prevalence – and traces the extent – of a construction-based split, whereby only postverbal A (split ergative) or S/A (marked nominative) arguments receive case marking. Split ergativity is overall very rare; case is marked morphologically and the languages have a default OVA order. Marked nominative systems are more common; tonal inflection is the main marking strategy, and the default order is typically verb-initial. Languages without case marking have the default orders AVO or AOV, and do not have postverbal S/A arguments. The survey furthermore reveals an interaction with referent-based splits for some languages (where postverbal S/A arguments are obligatorily case-marked if they are animate, highly agentive and/or definite), and assembles all available information on factors that condition the construction-based split. On the basis of this survey and preliminary corpus-based investigations, we suggest that the concept of discourse prominence opens up a fruitful line for future research.

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Differential Object Marking and Language Contact: An Introduction to this Special Issue

Abstract: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the cc-by-nc 4.0 License.

Cited by 6 publications

References 20 publications

Syntax in transition

Syntax in transition

The Differential Object Marker in Valencian: Another Failure of Prescriptivism

Split case marking and constituent order in Nilotic languages

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