In this talk, we aim at describing the particular cases of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in several Aromanian varieties. While DOM seems to have been grammaticalised in the Dacoromanian varieties from the 16th century on (over six centuries after the segregation of Dacoromanian and Aromanian), such patterns have been said to be absent or not systematic in Aromanian (Manzini & Savoia, 2018). In the context of our recent fieldwork with questionnaires as well as semi-directed interviews in ethnically mixed villages in districts of Struga, Resen, and Bitola in the Republic of North Macedonia, we observed patterns that indicate the existence and widespread usage of a DOM in the speech of native speakers of Aromanian from the villages Dolna Belica, Gorna Belica, and Malovishte. Despite many parallelisms, however, the behavior of DOM does not seem to be homogenous in these varieties. Our informants from Gorna Belica categorically used the preposition pi (< Lat. PER ’for, towards’) with pronouns referring to human entities, while systematically using the pronoun to express specificity with common as well as proper nouns designating beings, but not with nouns designating non-animates. Interestingly, we could not observe such patterns of Differential Object Marking in the adjacent varieties of Aromanian in Trnovo, Resen, and Nižepole. Thus, in our talk, we provide a thorough description of the patterns of DOM in the studied area.
Manzini, M. R., & Savoia, L. (2018). The Morphosyntax of Albanian and Aromanian Varieties:Case, Agreement, Complementation (Vol. 133). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.