ARABIC-L: LING: D.O. marking in Maltese Query

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 16 Jun 1999
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Direct Object marking in Maltese

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1)
Date: 16 Jun 1999
From: mmifsud at waldonet.net.mt
Subject: Direct Object marking in Maltese

DIRECT OBJECT MARKING IN MALTESE

In Maltese certain categories of Direct Object, related mostly to  the
feature +Human (and especially personal proper nouns) are preceded by
the object marker  LIL  or  ’L.  Other direct objects may exhibit this
marker optionally, while inanimate and abstract objects are obligatorily
unmarked.  This usage is distinct from the marking of Indirect Objects
through the preposition LIL (to).

We are trying to establish to what extent this syntactic feature is
shared by language varieties around the Mediterranean. While Lebanese
also exhibits object marking, North African Arabic, as far as we are
aware, does not.  On the other hand, modern Spanish and Sicilian both
share this feature.

We would be grateful for any feedback on this matter.

Manwel Mifsud
Albert Borg
(Malta)

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End of Arabic-L: 16 Jun 1999