Marking of the direct object
A variety of strategies exist to mark the direct object1 in a transitive sentence. Besides the explicit use of the noun or pronoun with or without case marking, strategies include verbal agreement, the use of non-verbal morphemes, and fixed word order. Strategies may be obligatory or optional. When evaluating sentences for this parameter, first- and second-person direct objects also should be considered.
Types:
PNPonly: The direct object is exclusively marked through the use of a noun or independent pronoun, and with the exception of required word order in some languages, no other morphosyntactic strategies for direct object marking are available.2
PNPobl: The direct object is obligatorily marked by the explicit use of the noun or an independent pronoun, but other strategies also exist.3
PNPnonobl: The direct object may be optionally marked through the explicit use of the noun or an independent pronoun.4
PNPor: The direct object is marked through the explicit use of the noun or an independent pronoun; only in the absence of these are other strategies available.5
+Agr: The direct object is marked through the use of morphosyntactic agreement on the verb.6
+Clit: The direct object is marked through the use of a clitic.7
+Aux: The direct object is marked through the use of an auxiliary, which simultaneously marks other grammatical categories, such as tense, aspect, and mood.
+Clsfr: The noun is marked through the use of a classifier, which simultaneously refers to the direct object.
+WO: The direct object is marked through the use of a specific word order.8
When a language displays more than one strategy, multiple values can be listed. If one strategy is dominant, a slash (/) can separate the two values, with the dominant value appearing first and the grammatically restricted strategy appearing second; if neither is dominant, they are listed with an ampersand (&) separating the two. A plus sign (+) may be used instead of an ampersand to indicate that the strategies must apply simultaneously. Parentheses indicate that use of the strategy is not obligatory.
1: The direct object is the entity that undergoes the action of the transitive verb or is the result of it.
2: Both of these conditions must apply. If this value applies, the value of Person marking on verb must be NoPM.
3: This value should appear alongside another value, separated by a plus sign.
4: This value should appear alongside another value, separated by a plus sign. For example, NPPNonobl+Agr refers to a language in which the direct object (and potentially some of its properties) may be marked by verb inflection, and the verb can mark the direct object without the use of an explicit noun or pronoun.
5: This value should appear alongside another value, separated by a plus sign.
6: This value includes affixes, internal flexion, and the use of bound person markers that attach to the verb (with or without agreement). It also covers direct objective conjugation, in which the verb is marked for the existence of the direct object, or for some grammatical category of the direct object, such as person, number, definiteness, or class. If this value applies, the value of Person marking on verbs cannot be NoPM or APM.
7: Clitics attach not (or not only) directly to the verb but to a structure encompassing it, such as a phrase or clause.
8: The direct object is required to appear in a given position, such as directly preceding or following the verb.