Differential Object Marking (DOM) is a cross-linguistic phenomenon in which the overt marking of direct objects of certain transitive verbs exhibits distinct morpho-syntactic properties. In Turkish, DOM is realized by the accusative suffix -(y)I and is considered to be determined by parameters such as referentiality/specificity, affectedness, and topicality. In addition, Enç argues that discourse-linking, which is a backward-looking discourse function, is another relevant parameter. In this paper, we investigate whether DOM also serves a forward-looking discourse function, which has remained underexplored. Using corpus studies and offline experiments, we investigate the forward discourse function of DOM in Turkish by analyzing the frequency of anaphoric expressions referring to the direct object with vs. without DOM. Corpus data show that non-modified human indefinite direct objects with DOM are taken up significantly more often in the subsequent discourse than those without DOM. However, forced-choice and paragraph continuation tasks do not support these observations. We evaluate various parameters that might contribute to the discourse prominence of direct objects with DOM and those that might mask such effects. We conclude that there is some corpus evidence that DOM contributes to a forward-looking discourse function, though our experimental methods may be inadequate to capture it.
Heusinger et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: