Verbal semantics and DOM in Spanish - Semántica verbal y MDO en español

Abstract

The present investigation examines the impact of verbal semantics on Differential Object Marking (DOM) in modern and earlier stages of European Spanish. The focus is on two verbal factors: telicity and affectedness. The aim of this study is twofold. First, I will carefully evaluate the validity of linguistic factors previously assumed to trigger DOM. Second, I will look at the influence of these factors in earlier stages of Spanish (thirteenth, sixteenth and twentieth centuries). For this purpose, I conducted two different and complementary studies: a test based on forced-choice questionnaires and a diachronic corpus analysis. The results of these studies reveal that in contrast to telicity, affectedness has a significant effect on DOM. In view of these findings, I propose an explanation that defines affectedness in terms of force transfer, which in turn is based on the notion of prominence. This explanation allows us to describe DOM in a parallel way to the prepositional marking of the indirect object, considering it as a marker associated with prominent arguments characterized not only by a high degree of animacy and definiteness, but also by affectedness. Therefore, the contribution of this investigation to research on DOM takes place on at least two levels. First, it broadens the knowledge about the influence that affectedness and telicity both from a synchronic diachronic perspective. Second, it provides a principled explanation to the question of how affectedness, in combination with other factors such as animacy or definiteness, unleashes the occurrence of DOM.