Universität zu Köln

Compensis, Paul ORCID: 0000-0003-3415-4844 (2022). Differential object indexing in Bulgarian - The role of discourse prominence and predictability. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

In this study, I argue that object reduplication in Bulgarian is a special encoding strategy that is concerned with discourse management and primarily used to mark (perceived) deviances from expectations with respect to the status of referents in discourse. In particular, I adopt a new perspective by capturing the phenomenon under discussion as a form of differential object marking with a person index, i.e., differential object indexing (DOI). Based on theoretical considerations, corpus evidence and a comprehensive empirical investigation, I reject the interpretation of Bulgarian DOI as a topic marker and suggest a functional explanation in terms of discourse prominence. In addition, I emphasize the role of predictability as a relevant dimension underlying this type of differential marking. I present evidence from acceptability judgment studies and web-based experiments suggesting that DOI in Bulgarian is typically used to (re-)activate or clarify the discourse prominence status of a less prominent referent. In terms of processing, I present the results from an ERP experiment and a visual cueing web-experiment showing that the presence of an object index during online processing modulates (discourse-based) expectations, initiates discourse updating and interacts with (visually induced) salience of a referent. Throughout this study, I elaborate on the association of discourse prominence and language-related predictability with more general cognitive mechanisms, such as attention and predictions.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Compensis, Paul paul.compensis@uni-koeln.de orcid.org/0000-0003-3415-4844 UNSPECIFIED
Contributors:	Contribution Name Email Thesis advisor Schumacher, Petra B. petra.schumacher@uni-koeln.de Thesis advisor García García, Marco marco.garcia@uni-koeln.de
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-628931
Series Name at the University of Cologne:	Papers on Prominence
Series Name:	21
Date:	2022
Place of Publication:	Köln
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 3: Deutsche Sprache und Literatur > Institut für Deutsche Sprache und Literatur I
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics Other languages
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language Differential object indexing; Object agreement; Bulgarian; Psycholinguistics; Neurolinguistics; Discourse prominence; Prominence in language; Prediction in language; Predictability; Differential object marking English
Date of oral exam:	12 July 2022
Referee:	Name Academic Title Schumacher, Petra B. Prof. Dr. García García, Marco Prof. Dr. Hellwig, Birgit Prof. Dr. Becker, Martin Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/62893