Variable Uses of the Direct-Object Marker A

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that variability with regard to the use of the so-called personal can in some measure be explained by the importance of the role that marked nouns play in discourse.' Role importance will be defined indirectly in terms of the semantic category of as developed by Hopper and Thompson (1980). After describing the notion of individuation, I will demonstrate through statistical sampling that it is a valid concept in the description of marked object nouns in Spanish at the phrase level. By referring to how the preposition is used with inanimate direct objects, I will show how the concept of individuation functions at the sentence level. Finally, I will apply the notion to a case study from Hispanic literature. By demonstrating that the use of the preposition a with some object nouns can be associated with thematic literary importance, I will suggest that individuation also functions intersententially. As such, individuation provides a single, unified principle which explains the relationship of stylistics to meaning on the one hand, while maintaining a principle for categorical phrase and sentence-level uses of the preposition on the other.