In:Differential Object Marking in Romance: Towards microvariation
Edited by Monica Alexandrina Irimia and Alexandru Mardale
[Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 280] 2023
► pp. 267–314
Parametric variation in differential object marking in Italo-Romance
Published online: 27 November 2023
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.280.11led
https://doi.org/10.1075/la.280.11led
Abstract
This article provides an exhaustive review of the known
variation found in the distribution of differerential object marking across
the dialects of Italy, including those of central and northern Italy, in
order to identify the relevant dimensions of microvariation in relation to
information structure, animacy, specificity, person, number and the head vs
phrasal distinction. Despite some similarities with other Romance varieties,
there are some notable differences in the distribution of differential
object marking in the dialects of Italy. Based on this examination, a
parametric hierarchy is developed which maps the differing licensing
conditions on differential object marking across Italy in an attempt to
highlight the precise pragmatic, semantic and syntactic parameters involved
in the observed patterns of distribution, their nature and their possible
interactions.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Person split
- 2.1Type 1A
- 2.2Type 1B
- 2.3Type 1C
- 2.4Summary
- 3.Pronominal split
- 3.1Type 2A
- 3.2Type 2B
- 3.3Type 2C
- 3.4Type 2D
- 3.5Summary
- 4.D-Split
- 4.1Type 3A
- 4.2Type 3B
- 4.3Type 3C
- 4.4Summary
- 5.Animacy and specificity splits
- 5.1Type 4A
- 5.2Type 4B
- 5.3Type 4C
- 5.4Type 4D
- 6.Summary and conclusions
Notes References
References (155)
Aissen, J. 1999. “Markedness and Subject Choice in Optimality Theory”, Natural Language & Linguistic Theory 17, 673–711.
Andriani, L. (2011). Differential
object marking, clitic doubling and argumental structure in
Barese. (Unpublished MA
thesis). University of Leiden.
(2015). Semantic
and syntactic properties of the prepositional accusative in
Barese. Linguistica
Atlantica, 34, 61–78.
Belletti, A. (2004). Aspects
of the low IP
Area. In L. Rizzi (Ed.), The
structure of CP and
IP (pp. 16–51). Oxford University of Press.
(2018a). On
a-marking of object topics in the Italian left
periphery. In R. Petrosino, P. Cerrone, & H. van der Hulst (Eds.), From
sounds to structures: Beyond the veil of
Maya (pp. 445–466). De Gruyter.
(2018b). Objects
and subjects in the left periphery: The case of
a-topics. In M. Grimaldi, R. Lai, L. Franco, & B. Baldi (Eds.), Structuring
variation in Romance linguistics and beyond: In honour of Leonardo
M.
Savoia (pp. 57–72). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Belletti, A., & Rizzi, L. (1988). Psych
verbs and Theta Theory. Natural
Language and Linguistic
Theory, 6, 291–352.
(1988). L’ordine
degli elementi della frase. Costruzioni con ordine marcato degli
elementi. In L. Renzi (Ed.), Grande
grammatica italiana di consultazione, Vol. 1: La frase. I sintagmi
nominale e
preposizionale (pp. 129–194). Il Mulino.
Bentley, D. (2013). Subject
canonicality and definiteness effects in Romance
there-sentences. Language, 89, 675–712.
Bentley, D., Ciconte, F., & Cruschina, S. (2013). Microvariation
in subject agreement: The case of existential pivots with split
focus in Italo-Romance. Italian
Journal of
Linguistics, 25, 15–43.
Berizzi, M. (2013). The
preposition ma in the central Italian
dialects. In D. Pescarini (Ed.), Studi
sui dialetti delle Marche. Special issue
of Quaderni di Lavoro
ASIt, 15, 1–21.
Berretta, M. (1989). Sulla
presenza dell’accusativo preposizionale in italiano settentrionale:
Note tipologiche. Vox
Romanica, 48, 13–37.
(1990b). Sull’accusativo
preposizionale in
italiano. In M. Berretta, P. Molinelli, & A. Valentini (Eds.), Parallela
4.
Morfologia/Morphologie (pp. 179–189). Narr.
Bleam, T. (1999). Object
bare plurals in Spanish and the semantics of personal
a. In J.-M. Authier, B. Bullock, & L. Reed (Eds.), Formal
perspectives on Romance linguistics selected papers from the 28th
Linguistic Symposium on Romance Languages (LSRL XXVIII), University
Park, 16–19 April
1998 (pp. 21–38). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2005). The
role of semantic type in differential object
marking. Belgian Journal of
Linguistics, 19, 3–27.
Bossong, G. (1982). Der
präpositionale Akkusativ im
Sardischen. In O. Winkelmann (Ed.), Festschrift
für Johannes Hubschmid zum 65. Geburtstag. Beiträge zur allgemeinen,
indogermanischen und romanischen
Sprachwissenschaft (pp. 579–599). Francke.
(1998). Le
marquage différentiel de l’objet dans les langues
d’Europe. In J. Feuillet (Ed.), Actance
et valence dans les langues
d’Europe (pp. 193–258). Mouton.
Braitor, A.-M. (2017). Unità
e diversità nella marcatura differenziale dell’oggetto diretto in
rumeno e in siciliano. Studio
comparativo (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). Univerity of Palermo.
Ciccotti, C. (2013). Studio
comparato sull’uso dell’accusativo preposizionale in spagnolo,
italiano e dialetto di
Montemesola (Unpublished BA
dissertation). University of Bologna.
Compagna, A. M. (Ed.). (1990). Lupo
de Spechio, summa dei re di Napoli e Sicilia e dei re
d’Aragona. Liguori.
Company Company, C. (2002a). El
avance diácronico de la marcación prepositiva en objetos directos
inanimados. In A. Bernabé, J. A. Berenguer, M. Cantarero, & J. C. de Torres (Eds.), Presente
y futuro de la lingüística en España. La Sociedad de Lingüística 30
años
después (pp. 146–154). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.
(2002b). Grammaticalization
and category
weakness. In I. Wischer & G. Diewald (Eds.), New
reflections on
grammaticalization (pp. 201–215). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Cornilescu, A. (2020). Ditransitive
constructions with differentially marked direct objects in
Romanian. In A. Pineda & J. Mateu (Eds.), Dative
constructions in Romance and
beyond (pp. 117–142). Language Science Press.
Dalbera-Stefanaggi, M.-J. (1997). Corsica. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (Eds.), The
dialects of
Italy (pp. 303–310). Routledge.
D’Achille, P. (2012). Questioni
aperte nella storia del Romanesco: Una rilettura dei dati
documentari’. In M. Loporcaro, V. Faraoni, & P. Di Pretoro (Eds.), Vicende
storiche della lingua di
Roma (pp. 3–27). Edizioni dell’Orso.
D’Alessandro, R. (2017). When
you have too many features: Auxiliaries, agreement and clitics in
Italian
varieteis. Glossa, 2, 1–36.
De Angelis, A. (2017). Articolo
definito e accusativo preposizionale nelle lingue romanze: Una
distribuzione complementare?’ Paper
presented at the Cambridge
Italian Dialect Syntax-Morphology Meeting (CIDSM) 12,
University of Cambridge, 3–5
July.
De Blasi, N., & Imperatore, L. (2000). Il
napoletano parlato e scritto. Con note di grammatica
storica (Nuova
edizione). Dante & Descartes.
DeLancey, S. (1981). An
interpretation of split ergativity and related
patterns. Language, 57, 626–657.
Delille, K. H. (1970). Die
geschictliche Entwicklung des präpositionalen Akkusativs im
Portugieschen. Romanisches Seminar der Univerität Bonn.
Đurđulov, M. (2018). Italiano
popolare a Fiume. Lettere di semicolti
(1915–45). (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). University of Padua.
Escandell-Viret, V. (2009). Differential
object marking and topicality. The case of Balearic
Catalan. Studies in
Language, 33(4), 832–885.
Falcone, G. (1979). Racconti popolari calabresi con prolegomeni linguistici. Reggio Calabria: Casa del Libro.
Ferrazzi, J. (2017). Prepositional
accusatives in contemporary standard
Italian (Unpublished BA
dissertation). University of Venice.
Fiorentino, G. (2003). Prepositional
objects in
Neapolitan. In G. Fiorentino (Ed.), Romance
objects. Transitivity in Romance
languages (pp. 117–151). Mouton de Gruyter.
Floricic, F. (2003). Notes
sur l’‘accusatif prépositionnel’ en
Sarde. Bulletin de la Société de
Linguistique de
Paris, 98, 247–303.
García García, M. (2018). Nominal
and verbal parameters in the diachrony of differential object
marking in
Spanish. In A. Witzlack-Makaraevich & I. Seržant (Eds.), The
diachronic typology of differential argument
marking (pp. 209–242). Language Science Press.
Giannell, L. (1997). Tuscany. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (Eds.), The
dialects of
Italy (pp. 297–302). Routledge.
Guardiano, C. (1999). Sull’oggetto
diretto preposizionale nel
siciliano. (Unpublished BA
dissertation). University of Pisa.
(2010). L’oggetto
diretto preposizionale in siciliano. Una breve rassegna e qualche
domanda. In J. Garzonio (Ed.), Studi
sui dialetti della
Sicilia (pp. 83–101). Unipress.
Harley, H., & Ritter, E. (2002). A
feature-geometric analysis of person and
number. Language, 78(3), 482–526.
Heusinger, K. von, & Kaiser, G. A. (2003). The
interaction of animacy, definiteness, and specificity in
Spanish. In K. von Heusinger & G. A. Kaiser (Eds.), Proceedings
of the workshop ‘Semantic and Syntatic Aspects of Specificity in
Romance
Languages’ (pp. 41–65). University of Konstanz.
(2005). The
evolution of differential object marking in
Spanish. In K. von Heusinger, G. A. Kaiser, & E. Stark (Eds.), Proceedings
of the workshop ‘Specificity and the Evolution/Emergence of Nominal
Determination Systems in
Romance’ (pp. 33–69). University of Konstanz.
Hill, V., & Mardale, A. (2017). On
the interaction of differential object marking and clitic doubling
in
Romanian. In A. Mardale (Ed.), Le
marquage différentiel de l’objet dans les langues romanes: Quelques
nouvelles pièces du puzzle. Special issue
of Revue Roumaine de
Linguistique, 62, 393–409.
Iannace, G. (1983). Interferenza
linguistica ai confini fra Stato e Regno. Il dialetto di San Leucio
del
Sannio. Longo.
Iemmolo, G. (2010). Topicality
and differential object marking: Evidence from Romance and
beyond. Studies in
Language, 34, 239–272.
Irimia, M. (2018). Differential
objects and other structural
objects. Proceedings of Linguistic
Society of
America, 50, 1–15.
Irimia, M., & Pineda, A. (2019). Differential
object marking and scales: Insights from Romance
diachrony. Proceedings of the
Linguistics Society of
America, 4, 57.1–15.
(1995). The
prepositional accusative in Sardinian: Its distribution and
syntactic
repercussions. In J. C. Smith & M. Maiden (Eds.), Linguistic
theory and the Romance
languages (pp. 37–75). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ledgeway, A. (2000). A
comparative syntax of the dialects of southern Italy: A minimalist
approach. Blackwell.
(2015). Varieties
in
Italy. In K. Jungbluth & F. Da Milano (Eds.), Manuals
of Romance linguistics, Vol. 6: Manual of deixis in Romance
languages (pp. 146–162). De Gruyter.
(2016). The
dialects of southern
Italy. In A. Ledgeway & M. Maiden (Eds.), The
Oxford guide to the Romance
languages (pp. 246–269). Oxford University Press.
(2020a). Rethinking
microvariation in Romance demonstrative
systems. In A. Bárány, T. Biberauer, J. Douglas, & S. Vikner (Eds.), Syntactic
architecture and its consequences, II: Between syntax and
morphology (pp. 451–490). Language Science Press.
(2020b). The
north-south divide: Parameters of variation in the clausal
domain. L’Italia
Dialettale, 81, 29–77.
(2022). Disentangling parameters:
Romance differential object marking and the distribution of head and
edge
features. In G. Alboiu, D. Isac, A. Nicolae, M. Tănase-Dogaru, & A. Tigău (Eds.), Studies
in honour of Alexandra
Cornilescu. Editura Universități din Bucarești 439–58.
Ledgeway, A., Schifano, N., & Silvestri, G. (2019a). Variazione
nella codifica degli argomenti verbali nelle varietà romanze e
greche della Calabria meridionale: “Dativo greco” e marca
differenziale dell’oggetto
diretto’. In P. Del Puente (Ed.), Atti
del IV Convegno internazionale di dialettologia – Progetto
A.L.Ba (pp. 93–113). Osanna Edizioni.
(2019b). Differential
object marking and the properties of D in the dialects of the
extreme south of Italy. Glossa: A
Journal of General
Linguistics, 4(1), 51.1–25.
Ledgeway, A., & Smith, J. C. (2016). Deixis. In A. Ledgeway & M. Maiden (Eds.), The
Oxford guide to the Romance
languages (pp. 879–896). Oxford University Press.
Leone, A. (1995). Profilo
di sintassi Siciliana. Centro di Studi Filologici e Linguistici Siciliani.
Lombardi Vallauri, E., & Suzuki, S. (2013). L’oggetto
preposizionale in romeno e in
italiano. Studia
Romanica, 46, 11–20.
Longobardi, G. (1994). Reference
and proper names: A theory of N-movement in syntax and logical
form. Linguistic
Inquiry, 25, 609–665.
López, L. (2012). Indefinite
objects: Scrambling, choice functions and differential
marking. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
(1997). Puglia
and
Salento. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (Eds.), The
dialects of
Italy (pp. 338–348). Routledge.
Loporocaro, M., & Paciaroni, T. (2016). The
dialects of central
Italy. In A. Ledgeway & M. Maiden (Eds.), The
Oxford guide to the Romance
languages (pp. 226–245). Oxford University Press.
Lorenzetti, L. (1999). Nota
linguistica. In M. Formica & L. Lorenzetti (Eds.), Il
misogallo
romano (pp. 107–181). Bulzoni.
Maggiore, M. (2016). Scripto
sopra Theseu Re. Il commento salentino al Teseida di Boccaccio
(Ugento/Nardò, ante 1487), Vol. 1:
Studi. De Gruyter.
Mancarella, G. B. (Ed.). (1998). Salento.
Monografia regionale della ‘Carta dei Dialetti
Italiani’. Edizioni del Grifo.
Manzini, M. R., & Franco, L. (2016). Goal
and DOM datives. Natural Language and
Linguistic
Theory, 34, 197–240.
Marchese, F. (2016). Il
lessico del dialetto di Polia
(VV) (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation). University of Florence.
Mardale, A. (2017). Introduction.
Le marquage différentiel de l’objet dans les langues romanes:
Quelques nouvelles pièces du
puzzle. In A. Mardale (Ed.), Le
marquage différentiel de l’objet dans les langues romanes: Quelques
nouvelles pièces du puzzle. Special issue
of Revue Roumaine de
Linguistique, 62, 351–357.
Massarelli, E. (2010). Dicete
angiò che è bellu Terni mia!: Lingua e dialetto nei versi di Furio
Miselli (Unpublished BA
dissertation). Università degli Studi della Tuscia.
Mensching, G. (2005). Remarks
on specificity and related categories in
Sardinian. In K. von Heusinger, G. A. Kaiser, & E. Stark (Eds.), Nereus
II: Specificity and the evolution/emergence of nominal determination
systems in Romance. Proceedings of the International Workshop at the
Freie Universität Berlin, October 8th-9th
2004 (pp. 81–106). University of Konstanz.
Montaut, A. (2018). The
rise of differential object marking in Hindi and related
languages. In A. Witzlack-Makaraevich & I. Seržant (Eds.), The
diachronic typology of differential argument
marking (pp. 281–313). Language Science Press.
Neuburger, K., & Stark, E. (2014). Differential
object marking in Corsican: Regularities and triggering
factors. Language, 52, 365–390.
Nocentini, A. (1985). Sulla
genesi dell’oggetto preposizionale nelle lingue
romanze. In L. Agostiniani, V. Grazi, & A. Nocentini (Eds.), Studi
linguistici e filologici per Carlo Alberto
Mastrelli (pp. 299–311). Pacini.
Palazzini, M. (2015). Poesie
e prose in vernacolo
aretino. Arezzo. Retrieved
on 24
February 2023 from [URL]
Pană Dindelegan, G. (2013). The
direct
object. In G. Pană Dindelegan (Ed.), The
grammar of
Romanian (125–144). Oxford University Press.
Petroselli, F. (2009). Il
lessico dialettale viterbese nelle testimonianze di Emil
Maggini. Banca di Viterbo.
Peverini-Benson, C. (2004). The
prepositional accusative in
Marchigiano (Unpublished MPhil
thesis).
Pineda, A. (2018). Acostament
al marcatge diferencial d’objecte als inicis del català
modern. eHumanista/IVITRA, 14, 570–596.
Postal, P. (1969). On
so-called pronouns in
English. In D. Reibel & S. Shane (Eds.), Modern
studies in
English (201–223). Prentice-Hall.
Protopapa, R. (1991). Teatro
dialettale leccese, Volume terzo:. L’àncura. La furtuna. Lu rre te
Lecce. Filippu e ppanaru. Nna causa alla
pretura. Capone.
Radtke, E. (1989). Areallinguistik
IX. Kampanien,
Kalabrien. In G. Holtus, M. Metzeltin, & C. Schitt (Eds.), Lexikon
der Romanistischen Linguistik
IV (pp. 652–668). Niemeyer.
Reynolds, D. (2005). The
distribution of the prepositional accusative in
Neapolitan (Unpublished BA
dissertation). University of Cambridge
Rizzi, L. (1997). The
fine structure of the left
periphery. In L. Haegeman, Elements
of
grammar (pp. 281–337). Kluwer.
Rohlfs, G. (1969). Grammatica
storica della lingua italiana e dei suoi dialetti. Sintassi e
formazione delle
parole. Einaudi.
(1971). Autour
de l’accusatif prépositionnel dans les langues romanes: Concordances
et discordances. Revue de
Linguistique
Romane, 35, 312–334.
Ruggieri, D., & Batinti, A. (1992). Lingua
e dialetto ad Anzi (Potenza). Note sulla situazione
linguistica. Il Salice.
Sheehan, M. (2016). Complex
predicates. In A. Ledgeway & M. Maiden (Eds.), The
Oxford guide to the Romance
languages (pp. 981–993). Oxford University Press.
Silverstein, M. (1976). Hierarchy
of features and
ergativity. In R. M. W. Dixon (Ed.), Grammatical
categories in Australian
languages (pp. 112–171). Humanities Press.
Singh, O. (2019). The
emergence of differential object marking in spoken northern
Italian – A syntactic
investigation (Unpublished MPhil
thesis). Univeristy of Cambridge.
Sornicola, R. (1997). L’oggetto
preposizionale in siciliano antico e in napoletano antico.
Considerazioni su un problema di tipologia
diacronica. Italienische
Studien, 18, 66–80.
(2002). Concezioni
del parlato e concezioni del cambiamento linguistico. Ricordando
Monica Berretta. Rivista di
Linguistica, 14, 375–390.
Telmon, T. (1993). Varietà
regionali. In A. Sobrero (Ed.), Introduzione
all’italiano contemporaneo. La variazione e gli
usi (pp. 93–149). Laterza.
Tigău, A. (2021). Differential
object marking in Romanian and Spanish. A contrastive analysis
between differentially marked and unmarked direct
objects. In J. Kabatek, P. Obrist, & A. Wall (Eds.), Differential
object marking in Romance. The third
wave (pp. 173–212). De Gruyter.
Varvaro, A. (1988). Aree
linguistiche XII.
Sicilia. In G. Holtus, M. Metzeltin, & C. Schitt (Eds.), Lexikon
der romanistischen Linguistik
IV (pp. 716–731). Niemeyer.
Vignuzzi, U. (1997). Lazio,
Umbria and the
Marche. In M. Maiden & M. Parry (Eds.), The
dialects of
Italy (pp. 311–320). Routledge.
Voci, B. (1994). Com’a
ru focularu. Dizionario lessicale fraseologico calabro andreolese –
italiano. Con elementi di grammatica descrittiva e centri
d’interesse illustrati. Calabria Letteraria Editrice.
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
Cennamo, Michela & Francesco Maria Ciconte
2025. Differential object marking in early Italo-Romance and old Sardinian. In Historical Linguistics 2022 [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 369], ► pp. 150 ff.
Ledgeway, Adam, Norma Schifano & Giuseppina Silvestri
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 november 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
