Differential object marking in Barese

Abstract

This article describes the behaviour of differential object marking (DOM) in Barese in the light of a preliminary study conducted by the author, which is here refined and rectified thanks to sets of novel data. A variety of referents along the Definiteness Scale is considered and discussed, and these suggest that DOM in Barese is obligatory with highly specific and referential determiner-less elements, but it becomes optional, if not ungrammatical, with nouns modified by an overt functional element, e.g. (in)definite determiners, numerals, or quantifiers. Furthermore, two structural contexts block DOM in Barese, namely the co-occurrence of human direct and indirect objects, and whenever the DO is embedded under a perception verb.