[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-157000-105":59,"doc-detail-157000-en":131},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":124,"head_meta":126,"extra_data":128,"updated_unix":130},105,"en","differential-object-marking-with-inanimate-objects","Differential Object Marking with Inanimate Objects","","The paper investigates Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Standard European Spanish, focusing on when the object preposition a is used with direct objects. It argues that animacy is the dominant conditioning factor: animate and specific objects typically trigger a-marking, while inanimate yet specific objects do not. By comparing elicited examples, the study shows that animacy-based properties better explain both absence and presence of a than specificity alone. It further addresses cases where a-marking occurs despite inanimacy, exploring lexical and semantic factors beyond syntactic and discourse-pragmatic conditions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":123},[70,84,106],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/differential-object-marking-with-inanimate-objects/157000/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/differential-object-marking-with-inanimate-objects/157000.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Theodore","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-08-29",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":105},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",16,{"@type":107,"mainEntity":108},"FAQPage",[109,115,119],{"name":110,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is Differential Object Marking (DOM) in the context of Spanish?","Question",{"text":113,"@type":114},"DOM refers to the choice between marking only certain direct objects with the object marker/preposition a, while others remain unmarked. The choice depends on properties of the object NP such as animacy and (sometimes) definiteness or specificity.","Answer",{"name":116,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":117},"Why does animacy matter more than specificity for a-marking in this paper?",{"text":118,"@type":114},"The examples show that a-marking aligns primarily with animacy: inanimate objects cannot generally receive a even if they are specific, and animacy explains cases where a appears or fails to appear. Specificity effects are therefore treated as less central than animacy-related issues.",{"name":120,"@type":111,"acceptedAnswer":121},"Are there cases where a-marking appears with inanimate direct objects or inanimate subjects?",{"text":122,"@type":114},"Yes. The paper presents examples where a-marking is obligatory even with inanimate-related configurations, and asks why these objects are a-marked. It suggests lexical and semantic factors as likely explanations beyond syntax and discourse-pragmatics.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":125,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":127,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":129,"site_id":62},157000,1787970996,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":132},{"doc_id":129,"user_id":133,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":134,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":135,"file_id":136,"file_url":137,"file_type":138,"file_size":139,"view_count":105,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":140,"language":141,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":142,"faqs":143,"seo_title":144,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":130,"read_time":145,"preview_page_count":4},7971461740886,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","In: G.A. Kaiser & M. Leonetti (eds.), Proceedings of the Workshop “Definiteness, Specificity and Animacy in IberoRomance Languages ”. Arbeitspapier 122. Fachbereich Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Konstanz 2007, 63-84.  \nDifferential Object Marking with inanimate objects  \nMarco García García  \nMarco .Garcia\u003Cat>[uni-koeln.de](uni-koeln.de)  \n1. DOM with animate and inanimate objects*  \nAs is well known, in some languages only certain direct objects (DOs) are marked by an object marker, while other DOs remain unmarked. Since Bossong (1985) this phenomenon is known as Differential Object Marking (DOM) . According to traditional, as well as to recent approaches, DOM is controlled by individuating features of the object NP such as animacy, definiteness or specificity, i.e. object marking is sensitive to the animacy scale, the definiteness scale or a combination of these scales (cf., for instance, Aissen 2003, Bossong 1985, 1998, von Heusinger & Kaiser 2003, 2005, Laca 2006) . With respect to Standard European Spanish, which is the empirical focus of this paper, animacy seems to be the most important factor among these conditioning features. Usually, definite and/or specific DOs are not marked by the Spanish differential object marker, the preposition a, unless the referent is human or at least animate. Consider the following examples:  \n(1) (a) Conozco *a/ø esta película. [+specific], [-animate] know-1.SG to this film  \n‘I know this film.’  \n(b) Conozco a/*ø este actor. [+specific], [+animate] know-1.SG to this actor  \n‘I know this actor.’  \nSince the DO in (1a) esta película is specific, i.e. referential, but clearly inanimate, it cannot be marked by a. In contrast, the DO in (1b) este actor is animate and specific. Therefore, amarking is required. Given that there is some variation in a-marking with animate DOs, it is often assumed that DOs in Spanish can only receive object marking when they are both animate and specific, as it is the case with (1b) (cf. e.g., von Heusinger & Kaiser 2003) . However, although the category of specificity might play a certain role with respect to the distribution of object marking in Spanish, it is outranked by animacy. This is shown by comparing the examples in (1) with the following examples (cf. Leonetti 2003: 72-76):  \n(2) (a) No he visto *a/ø nada. [-specific], [-animate] not have 1.SG seen to nothing  \n‘I haven't seen anything.’  \n(b) No he visto a/*ø nadie. [-specific], [+animate] not have 1.SG seen to nobody  \n‘I haven't seen anybody.’  \n* The present paper is a revised version of a talk originally given at the workshop Definiteness, Specificity and Animacy in Ibero-Romance languages, and later also presented in modified versions at the Linguistic colloquium of the University of Cologne and the Optimal Communication Series at the University of Nijmegen. I would like to thank all workshop and colloquium participants for their helpful comments , particularly Patrick Brandt, Helen de Hoop, Daniel Jacob, Georg Kaiser, Silvia Kutscher, Beatrice Primus and Peter de Swart. Special thanks go also to Stephanie Rott.  \n64 Differential object marking with inanimate objects  \nIn contrast to (1), in (2a) the absence of a-marking is expected since the DO is neither animate nor specific. On the other hand, in (2b), a-marking is necessary, although the DO is clearly non-specific. Obviously, object marking can only be due to the animacy-feature of nadie. As already seen above, animacy is also the relevant factor in (1a), where a-marking is not possible given that the DO is specific but inanimate. In conclusion, the examples (1) and (2) show that the lexical category of animacy is the most important factor controlling a-marking of DOs. Therefore, we will generally refrain from considering specificity effects in the following and primarily focus on animacy-related issues.  \nAccording to Torrego Salcedo (1999: 1785ff.), a-marking does not only require animacy on the DO, but also on the subject. Apparently, a-","cbCainwrUefa8pzq","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainwrUefa8pzq","pdf",691007,22,"English","# Introduction\n## DOM and object marking scales\n## Evidence from animate vs. inanimate direct objects\n# Animacy conditions and subject dependency\n## Verbs requiring animate subjects\n## Obligatory a-marking with inanimate elements\n# Research goal and paper structure\n## Lexical and semantic factors","[{\"question\":\"What is Differential Object Marking (DOM) in the context of Spanish?\",\"answer\":\"DOM refers to the choice between marking only certain direct objects with the object marker/preposition a, while others remain unmarked. The choice depends on properties of the object NP such as animacy and (sometimes) definiteness or specificity.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does animacy matter more than specificity for a-marking in this paper?\",\"answer\":\"The examples show that a-marking aligns primarily with animacy: inanimate objects cannot generally receive a even if they are specific, and animacy explains cases where a appears or fails to appear. Specificity effects are therefore treated as less central than animacy-related issues.\"},{\"question\":\"Are there cases where a-marking appears with inanimate direct objects or inanimate subjects?\",\"answer\":\"Yes. The paper presents examples where a-marking is obligatory even with inanimate-related configurations, and asks why these objects are a-marked. It suggests lexical and semantic factors as likely explanations beyond syntax and discourse-pragmatics.\"}]","Differential Object Marking with Inanimate Objects | PDF",55]