The Discourse Structuring Potential of Definite Noun Phrases in Romanian
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper investigates an alternation found with definite noun phrases in direct object position in Romanian that represents a theoretical puzzle for current theories of Differential Object Marking in this language (Gramatica Limbii Române 2005, Klein & de Swart 2011). When in direct object position and unmodified, definite noun phrases can be accompanied either by the differential object marker pe, or by the simple enclitic definite article -ul, but not by both at the same time. Based on the findings of a sentence continuation experiment, we show that pe-marking is used for noun phrases that show a high discourse structuring potential, which is reflected by their (i) likelihood of subsequent mention (Givón 1983, Arnold 2010) and (ii) topic shift potential (Givón 1983). Furthermore, this paper raises interesting questions about referent tracking in discourse, in particular whether or in what way different types of definite noun phrases contribute to the discourse structuring potential of their referents.
منابع مشابه
The Discourse Structuring Potential of Definite Noun Phrases in Natural Discourse
This paper investigates an alternation found with definite noun phrases in direct object position in Romanian that represents a theoretical puzzle for current theories of Differential Object Marking or pe-marking (Dobrovie-Sorin 1994). When in direct object position and unmodified, definite noun phrases can be accompanied either by the differential object marker pe, or by the simple enclitic de...
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