Differential object marking and scale reversals

Abstract

This paper focuses on some problematic aspects of the diachrony of differential object marking in Old Catalan and Old Romanian (11th to 17th centuries). Corpus data from both languages reveal two unexpected facts: (i) there is a prominence of 3rd person to the exclusion of 1st and 2nd person, contrary to what the Animacy/Person scale would predict; (ii) differential marking appears to be present on nominals (especially proper names), to the exclusion of pronouns, this time contrary to the Specificity/Definiteness Scale. The account we propose for these types of scale reversals builds on the idea that languages can have more than one differential object marking strategy, as well as more than one type of structure for pronouns and animate nominals. Moreover, the co-existence of various mechanisms for nominal licensing can explain why, in some instances, classes lower down the hierarchies can get signaled to the exclusion of higher ones.