Naslov
Croatian differential object marking in the lifespan perspective

Autori
Hržica, Gordana ; Kuvač Kraljević, Jelena

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, ostalo

Skup
9th International Conference of the Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences of the University of Zagreb

Mjesto i datum
Zagreb, Hrvatska, 17.05.2017. - 19.05.2017

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Poster

Vrsta recenzije
Međunarodna recenzija

Ključne riječi
differential object marking, adult language, spoken language

Sažetak
Differential object marking (DOM) (Bossong 1991) refers to the differential marking in a subset of direct objects. The choice between the two markings of an objects depends on several factors, among them animacy, relevant for Croatian. It has been shown that in the acquisition of DOM in Croatian children erroneously extend the marked forms to inanimate nouns. This has been explained by the principle of contrast in morphology (Clark 2007) according to which there should be, ideally, a one-to-one correspondence between form and function. This holds importance for using DOM as a clinical marker, but also corroborates the principle of contrast in the acquisition of morphology. However, the usage of DOM from lifespan perspective has never been researched. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to define the DOM in the language of adult Croatian speakers because descriptions of some Croatian dialects state that they do not mark inanimate and animate forms differently (e.g. Šojat 1979). Method Language samples of 100 adult speakers of Croatian have been collected. Five dialectal areas have been established: 3 areas without DOM (DOM-) and 2 control areas with the DOM marking (DOM+) (20 speakers per area). All relevant tokens were marked as animate or inanimate and marked or unmarked. Results Results show that in each of the DOM- areas there is a certain amount of DOM, i.e. speakers do tend to mark animate and inanimate objects differently in 75%. Areas differ in this respect: DOM-(D1)–97%, DOM-(D2)–72%. DOM- (D3)– 59%. Northern areas show less DOM. More so, using DOM shows significant negative correlation with chronological age (r=-, 454, n=60, p=.039, ), pointing non-DOM might not be evidenced in contemporary language, i.e. it is slowly disappearing form dialects traditionally perceived as non-DOM. Speakers in DOM+ areas show high percentage of DOM usage (above 97%).

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

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