Differential Object Marking; another Look at Persian “Ra”

Document Type : علمی - پژ‍وهشی

Author

• Mohammad Rasekh Mahand

https://doi.org/10.22067/lj.v2i2.15900

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