Differential Object Marking; another Look at Persian “Ra”

زبانشناسی و گویش های خراسان

Article 1, Volume 2, Issue 2, October 2010   

Document Type: علمی - پژ‍وهشی

DOI: 10.22067/lj.v2i2.15900

Author

Mohammad Rasekh Mahand^*

Abstract

In the literature of differential object marking (DOM), it is argued that animacy and definiteness are the two main distinguishing features in marking or not marking direct objects. Objects high in definiteness and animacy clines are more likely to be case marked. Using a functional-typological approach, Aissen (2003) asserts that in Persian, objects high in definiteness and animacy clines are followed by the postposition, RA. This paper tries to show that Aissen’s explanation of Persian RA is not acceptable and her conclusions are not valid considering Persian data.

Keywords

case; Differential Object Marking; animacy; definiteness; Persian