Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
Download 1.59 Mb. Pdf ko'rish
|
Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
3.1.7
Other properties of subjects There are a very large number of other properties that subjects can have in a language, too many to list here. In Icelandic, for example, there are currently at least thirteen known properties that can be used to argue that certain non-nominative nps are subjects (Andrews (2001)). An early compilation of common subject properties is Keenan (1976c); see Manning (1996:12–14, 17) for more recent discussion. The most important point is that it is not sufficient simply to note that some property that frequently characterizes subjects in other languages happens to be true of subjects in the language under discussion: it must also be shown that the property does not apply to non-subjects, and that it cannot be described solely in terms of semantic roles. For example, in English, one can note that reflexive pronouns can have the preverbal np as their antecedent, in the same way that Malayalam reflexive pronouns can have the nominative as their antecedent: (74) a. John i talked about himself i b. John i told Mary j about himself i But there is no argument for subjects in English here, because non-subjects can also be the antecedent of reflexive pronouns: (75) John i told Mary j about herself j 180 Avery D. Andrews To provide evidence for a grammatical relation of subjects, a property must apply to the putative subjects but not to clear cases of non-subjects, and most also not be statable in terms of other concepts such as semantic roles, since we shouldn’t postulate abstract concepts such as grammatical relations if other independently motivated concepts are sufficient to account for the phenomena. 3.2 Other core grammatical relations In this subsection we discuss some of the other core grammatical relations that are commonly found in languages that have subjects. These grammatical relations are commonly called ‘objects’: direct objects, indirect objects, and so forth. Objects are generally more problematic than subjects because there are fewer grammatical processes applying exclusively to specific types of objects. It can therefore be difficult to tell whether variations in the coding features of object-like nps reflect differences in their grammatical relations. Some impor- tant studies and collections on aspects of objecthood are Plank (1984), Dryer (1986), M. C. Baker (1988), and Alsina (1996a). The most important type of object, and the most widely distributed, is the direct object. These are discussed immediately below, together with the highly similar second objects. Next we consider indirect objects, and then finally cer- tain other less commonly found core grammatical relations. 3.2.1 Direct objects and second objects We have already defined ‘direct object’ as the grammatical relation, if there is one, associated with p function. There turn out to be two potential kinds of problems that arise in connec- tion with recognizing direct objects. The first is that sometimes p function is expressed by more than one morphosyntactic technique, without there being a clear basis for saying that there is a difference in grammatical relations. Most commonly, animate and/or definite ps are expressed differently from inanimate and/or indefinite ones. In Hindi, for example, animate ps require the accusative case-marker ko, while inanimate ps allow (but don’t require) the marker if they are definite, and don’t allow it if they are indefinite (T. Mohanan (1994:79–80)). Besides accusative, the inanimate objects can be nominative if they are definite, and must be if they are indefinite: (76) a. Ilaa ne bacce-ko/*baccaa ut.aayaa Ilaa erg child-acc/child(nom) lift(perf) ‘Ilaa lifted the/a child’ b. Ilaa ne haar ut.aayaa Ilaa erg necklace(nom) lift(perf) ‘Ilaa lifted the/a necklace’ The major functions of the noun phrase 181 c. Ilaa ne haar-ko ut.aayaa Ilaa erg necklace-acc lift(perf) ‘Ilaa lifted the/*a necklace’ A somewhat similar phenomenon appears in Spanish. Here full np animate objects, regardless of definiteness, are marked with an object-marker a (77a), while inanimates are marked by nothing (77b). But pronominal objects are marked by an accusative case clitic in front of the verb, regardless of animacy: 14 (77) a. Vimos a alguien we.saw om somebody ‘We saw somebody’ b. Vimos (*a) el interruptor we.saw (om) the switch ‘We saw the switch’ c. Lo vimos it(acc) we.saw ‘We saw it/him’ Pronominal animate objects can also be ‘doubled’ as full nps, in which case one sees the marker on the np together with an accusative pronoun: (78) Lo vimos a ´el him(acc) we.saw om him ‘We saw him’ There doesn’t seem to be any solid basis for saying that one or the other of these treatments is characteristic of a ‘real p’ (participant receiving the normal treatment accorded to a patient of a ptv). Rather, in many languages there are just two treatments, apportioned in accord with animacy, or definiteness. This is in fact probably the commonest situation in which there are two different ways of expressing p function. It is important that in all such cases, all ptvs can use either technique, providing that its semantic/pragmatic conditions are met. A different but related issue is whether or not there are two grammati- cal relations involved. In the case of Spanish, this seems unlikely: both ani- mate (marked) and inanimate (unmarked) p are represented the same way, as accusative clitics, when pronominal, and both can likewise be passivized. In the case of Hindi, there doesn’t seem to be a comparable argument for identifying the two treatments of p as one grammatical relation, but neither is there any against it, and treating them as the same gives us a simpler account of verbs in 14 There is however an option, called leismo, of using dative rather than accusative forms of animate object pronouns, so the treatment of these two types seems to be diverging. |
Ma'lumotlar bazasi mualliflik huquqi bilan himoyalangan ©fayllar.org 2024
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling
ma'muriyatiga murojaat qiling