Differential argument marking: Semantics, morphology, syntax.

The paper presents an overview of the current issues and tendencies in studies of differential argument marking (DAM). This research area is of topical interest in modern descriptive and theoretical linguistics, primarily in the context of the general methodological problem of modeling linguistic variation. Therefore, along with traditional issues such as studies of DAM in specific languages and structural positions, modern research addresses the issues of the universality of mechanisms of DAM, its diachronic emergence and development, statistical analysis and multivariate models in typological and language-specific investigations of DAM.