Differential object marking in inanimate objects in Spanish
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7557/1.12.1.6951Keywords:
object, feature geometry, labeling theory, phi label, presupposition of existenceAbstract
The aim of this paper is to explain the differential object marking (DOM) of inanimate objects in Spanish. Generally, animate objects in Spanish are marked with an A morpheme; however, it is possible for the A-marker to appear also with inanimate objects in specific circumstances. In this article, I defend the idea that a lexical feature of the verb (the presupposition of existence) must be licensed with the organizing node that dominates the specificity features. V inherits this organizing node from v. The analysis will be done using mainly two theoretical tools: the feature geometry of Harley & Ritter (2002) and Chomsky's (2013, 2015) labeling theory.
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