Verbal Semantics and the Diachronic Development of Differential ...

Verbal semantics and the diachronic development of DOM in Spanish 11
(16) (a) Reçiba a mios yernos commo elle pudier mejor (Cid, 2637)
receive-IMP.2SG DOM my sons-in-law as he could-3.SG better
‘Let him give to my sons-in-law the finest possible welcome.’
(b) Ca yo case sus fijas con yfantes de Carrion (Cid, 2956)
for I married.1SG. his daughters with Infantes of Carrion
‘for I married his daughters to the Infantes of Carrion.’
(17) Tanto traen las grandes ganançias, muchos gañados de ovejas e de vacas
very brought.3PL the big wealths many herds of sheep and of cows
‘They brought such great wealth, many herds of sheep and cows.’ (Cid, 480-481)
Comparing these facts in Old Spanish to the situation in Modern Spanish, we see that there is
a crucial difference in the marking of definite objects and (specific) indefinite NPs, both
animate and human ones. According to Laca’s (2006) research, 36 percent of all animate
definite objects are marked with DOM in Old Spanish. In Modern Spanish, as already shown,
these objects always appear with a. This difference is illustrated in (18) and (19), where the
original version of El Cantar de Mio Cid is contrasted to a translation in Modern Spanish (cf.
Laca 2006:455, Melis 1995:143):
(18) Old Spanish:
(a) En braços tenedes mis fijas tan blancas commo el sol. (Cid, 2333)
in arms have-2.PL my daughters as white as the sun
‘In your arms you hold my daugthers, as white as the sun’
(b) Escarniremos las fijas del Campeador. (Cid, 2551)
will-humiliate-1PL the daughters of-the Battler
‘We shall humiliate the Battler's daughters’
(19) Modern Spanish:
(a) tenéis a mis hijas, tan blancas como el sol, en vuestros brazos
have.2.PL DOM my daughters as white as the sun in your arms
(Cantar de mio Cid. Translation A. Reyes. Madrid: Espasa Calpe 1976)
‘In your arms you hold my daugthers, as white as the sun’ (Cid, 2333)
(b) y podremos escarnecer a las hijas del Campeador. (Cid, 2551)
and will-can1.PL humiliate DOM the daughters of-the Battler
(Cantar de mio Cid. Translation A. Reyes. Madrid: Espasa Calpe 1976)
‘We shall humiliate the Battler's daughters’
We can observe that DOM has expanded considerably towards the right of the Referentiality
Scale (while the Animacy Scale has so far not been affected from this extension in European
Spanish): the development for human direct objects goes from obligatory DOM for pronouns
and proper nouns, and optional DOM for definite nouns in Old Spanish, to obligatory DOM
for specific NPs, and optional DOM for non-specific indefinite NPs in Modern Spanish, as
illustrated in table 3: