Universität zu Köln

von Heusinger, Klaus ORCID: 0000-0001-8108-3191 and Yıldız, Haydar Batuhan ORCID: 0000-0003-4405-023X (2025). The discourse function of Differential Object Marking in Turkish. Languages, 10 (7). MDPI.

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Abstract

[Artikel-Nr.: 173] Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a cross-linguistic phenomenon in which the overt marking of direct objects of certain transitive verbs exhibits distinct morpho-syntactic properties. In Turkish, DOM is realized by the accusative suffix -(y)I and is considered to be determined by parameters such as referentiality/specificity, affectedness, and topicality. In addition, Enç argues that discourse-linking, which is a backward-looking discourse function, is another relevant parameter. In this paper, we investigate whether DOM also serves a forward-looking discourse function, which has remained underexplored. Using corpus studies and offline experiments, we investigate the forward discourse function of DOM in Turkish by analyzing the frequency of anaphoric expressions referring to the direct object with vs. without DOM. Corpus data show that non-modified human indefinite direct objects with DOM are taken up significantly more often in the subsequent discourse than those without DOM. However, forced-choice and paragraph continuation tasks do not support these observations. We evaluate various parameters that might contribute to the discourse prominence of direct objects with DOM and those that might mask such effects. We conclude that there is some corpus evidence that DOM contributes to a forward-looking discourse function, though our experimental methods may be inadequate to capture it.

Item Type:	Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code von Heusinger, Klaus UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8108-3191 UNSPECIFIED Yıldız, Haydar Batuhan UNSPECIFIED https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4405-023X UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-799802
Identification Number:	10.3390/languages10070173
Journal or Publication Title:	Languages
Volume:	10
Number:	7
Number of Pages:	31
Date:	18 July 2025
Publisher:	MDPI
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Collaborative Research Centers > CRC 1252: Prominence in Language > TP B04
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/79980