TELICITY, DEFINITENESS AND ANIMACY: THE FACTORS BEHIND TRANSITIVITY AND DIFFERENTIAL OBJECT MARKING (original) (raw)

In this article, we will pursue an explicitly explanatory approach to transitivity and argue that it may provide simpler and more general account than Hopper and Thompson's (1980) theory. Our proposal is that the ten properties of transitivity enumerated by Hopper and Thompson (1980) can be reduced to only two: (i) individuated portions of matter and time and (ii) animacy. In the second step of our argument, we propose that the factors behind differential object marking (DOM) and transitivity are of two kinds. First, there is a compositional factor, i.e., individuated portions of time and matter. Secondly, there is an inherent property of lexical items, i.e, animacy. We will discuss data from Kimwani, a Bantu language, as an example of a grammar in which DOM is sensitive both to a compositional factor (definiteness) and an inherent one (humanness).