[Lingtyp] Differential Object Marking and Language Contact

[Jussi Ylikoski]

Dear Inbal,


A recent study by Jukka Mettovaara (2023), "Syntax in transition: Emergence of differential argument marking in Aanaar Saami" (https://doi.org/10.61197/fjl.113917), describes the ongoing restructuring of subject and object marking in Aanaar Saami under the influence of Finnish (with similar influence on North Saami and Skolt Saami spoken in Finland).


Best regards,


Jussi


________________________________
Frá: Inbal Mayo via Lingtyp <lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org>
Sent: miðvikudagur, 6. nóvember 2024 22:03
Til: lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org
Efni: [Lingtyp] Differential Object Marking and Language Contact


Dear colleagues,

I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to request your assistance with a survey I am conducting as part of my MA thesis on languages that have acquired Differential Object Marking (DOM) due to language contact.
So far, I have identified a few well-attested cases, for example in the Tibeto-Burman language family, particularly the Kiranti languages (Ebert 2003; Bickel 2003, etc.), as well as a few other cases such as Afrikaans (den Besten 2000), Basque (Rodríguez-Ordóñez 2020), and Paraguayan Guaraní (Bittar 2023). However, I have also encountered some cases that are less clear. For instance, in the Semitic language family (specifically Maltese (Döhla 2016)) DOM has been proposed as a contact-induced feature, though this relies on the  assumption that the language’s ancestors did not originally have DOM. From what I understand, this assumption is under some contention.
Additional problematic cases are found in the Indo-Iranian languages. For example, DOM systems in Hindi and Persian are hypothesized to be due to language contact (Montaut 2018 and Paul 2018 respectively), but according to other sources DOM is extremely widespread in Indo-Aryan languages (Schikowski 2013, which focuses on Nepali and relies on additional descriptions of Indo-Aryan languages), which would make it is less likely that this feature is contact-induced.

I would greatly appreciate any additional references or insights that could shed light on these case studies, as well as information on other languages where DOM is theorized to have developed due to language contact.

Thank you very much for your time!
Best regards,
Inbal Mayo

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