Object Omission in Contact: Object Clitics and Definite Articles in the West Thracian Greek (Evros) Dialect

Journal of Language Contact

Nikolaos Lavidas^1¹  Ianthi Maria Tsimpli^2² 

[1] National and Kapodistrian University of Athens^1;University of Cambridge^2

DOI  :  10.1163/19552629-01201006

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Brill

【 摘 要 】

We examine spontaneous production data from the dialect of Modern West Thracian Greek ( mwtg ) (the local dialect of Evros) with regard to a hypothesis of syntactic borrowing of verbal transitivity. We argue that mwtg allows omission of the direct object with specific reference, in contrast to Standard Modern Greek ( smg ) and other Modern Greek ( mg ) dialects (spoken in Greece), but similar to Turkish. Object omission in mwtg is possible only in contexts where smg and other mg dialects show obligatory use of the 3rd-person clitic. We argue that syntactic borrowing in the case of language contact follows the transfer with second language learners: the relevant elements that host uninterpretable features are used optionally. Moreover, the definite article, in contrast to the indefinite article, is also affected by language contact. The 3rd-person clitic and the definite article are affected by contact as uninterpretable clusters of features. We claim that interpretability plays a significant role in transitivity in cases of language contact.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC