Verbal Semantics and the Diachronic Development of Differential ...

Verbal semantics and the diachronic development of DOM in Spanish 10
to take human objects and is high in affectedness, while ver ‘see’ has no restriction with
respect to animacy. However, it is difficult to assign some preference restriction to the direct
object of considerar ‘consider’ or tener ‘have’.
(13) Scale of Affectedness and expected animacy of the direct object
[+ human] > [± human] > [±/- animate] > [(±)/– animate]
matar ver considerar tener
‘kill’ ‘see’ ‘consider’ ‘have’
3. Diachronic development of DOM
3.1 Diachronic development along the Referentiality Scale
Like Modern (Standard) Spanish, Old Spanish exhibits DOM. However, as shown in several
diachronic studies (Melis 1995, Laca 2002, 2006), DOM in Old Spanish is less frequent and
used in different conditions than in Modern Spanish. The main results of these studies are
repeated here briefly and illustrated with some examples from the Cantar de mio Cid
(following Melis 1995 and Laca 2006).
(Strong) object personal pronouns carry obligatory DOM in Old Spanish, as in (14).
Human proper names acting as direct object are obligatorily a-marked, as in (15). Human
definite direct objects are optionally a-marked, as in (16). Animate indefinite direct objects
are never a-marked, as in (17) (cf. Laca 2006:444): 8
(14) e ssi fuéredes vençidos, non rebtedes a nós (Cid, 3566)
and if would-2PL defeated not blame-IMP.2PL DOM us
‘but if you are defeated you are not to blame us.’
(15) Matastes a Bucar & arrancamos el canpo (Cid, 2458)
killed-2SG DOM Búcar and rupture-1PL the field
‘you killed Búcar and and we have won the battle.’
8
There was no clear case of a human indefinite direct object in the text. The animate indefinite direct object
muchos gañados deovejas e de vacas in (17) is the closest that we come to an instance of it.