The Mediterranean as linguistic area: Evidence from voice phenomena and argument marking

In this paper, we focus on two phenomena that are manifested across languages of the Mediterranean and are still at the centre of the linguistic debate on the Mediterranean as linguistic area: that is, split intransitivity and differential object marking (DOM). We test the hypothesis that these two phenomena follow a common principle, which can be also appreciated in diachrony. To do this, we analyse the diachronic patterns of the progressive loss of the double auxiliary selection (BE vs. HAVE) in compound tenses of intransitive verbs and of the gradual extension of DOM in Spanish, a Mediterranean language that offers a unique opportunity to achieve the objectives of this study. Our results: 1) unravel the common principle underlying BE auxiliary and DOM, 2) demonstrate how BE auxiliary and DOM follow this principle in opposite directions, 3) explain why in Spanish (as well as in other Mediterranean linguistic systems, including Southern Italian dialects), when one strategy develops and spreads, the other declines.