Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Volume I: Clause Structure, Second edition
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Lgg Typology, Synt Description v. I - Clause structure
Avery D. Andrews
The other case tends to arise in systems that code grammatical relations by order. Here it is frequent for two non-subject arguments to appear without dis- tinguishing role-markers, in what is often called a ‘double object’ construction such as that of Susan handed Paul the shovel, mentioned in (35a) above. In this construction, after the verb handed appear two bare nps, Paul and the shovel. In traditional terminology, Paul would be described as the ‘indirect object’ and the shovel as the ‘direct object’, but this classification is based on the semantic roles, and is partly based on the fact that in many languages with case marking, the recipient would be in the dative case and the theme in the accusative. Examining a range of languages with double object constructions reveals a rather complex situation. In the most straightforward type, one of the two np s, usually but not always the one expressing the recipient, takes on all of the grammatical properties of a p, and may thus be non-controversially considered to be the direct object and bearer of p-function. 15 A language of this type is the Bantu language Chi Mwi:ni (Kisseberth and Abasheikh (1977)). The general form of Chi Mwi:ni sentence structure is not unlike that of English: subjects and objects being unmarked and appearing in svo order, followed by obliques with prepositional np marking. There is furthermore a passive construction like that of Malayalam, which puts an extra affix on the verb but does not add an auxiliary. Among the differences is that Chi Mwi:ni has a rich agreement system, with subjects triggering obligatory and objects optional cross-referencing on the verb. p s are distinguished from ss and obliques by the two properties of triggering optional cross-referencing on the verb (the cross-reference marker appearing between the tense marker, if there is an overt one, and the stem, unlike the obligatory subject cross-reference marker, which precedes the tense marker) and being able to undergo passivization. These two properties are illustrated below: (83) a. Nu:ru --chi-- l es-e- l e chibu:ku Nuru he(subj)-past-it(obj)-bring-asp book ‘Nuru brought the book’ b. Chibu:ku chi- -- l es-el-a na Nu:ru book it(subj)-past-bring-asp-pass by Nuru ‘The book was brought by Nuru’ Kisseberth and Abasheikh (1977:192–3) There are double object constructions in which two nps appear postverbally without np marking. The simplest constructions of this sort occur with verbs taking a theme and a goal/source (which may be a recipient or loser, or simply 15 This is sometimes called the ‘Primary Object’, in part to avert potential confusion with the traditional usage of the term direct object, but for theoretical reasons as well (Dryer (1986)). The major functions of the noun phrase 185 something to which something is applied, such as a cart that is oiled). We will refer to these non-theme arguments as ‘recipients’, though their range of semantic roles is wider than indicated by this term. In a double object construction, both of the properties characteristic of p accrue to the recipient (which normally occupies the immediately postverbal position), as illustrated in (84), but not to the theme, as illustrated in (85): (84) a. Nu:ru -m-- l et-el-ele mwa:limu chibu:ku Nuru he(subj)-him(obj)-bring-dat-asp teacher book ‘Nuru brought the book to the teacher’ b. Mwa:limu -- l et-el-el-a chibu:ku na Nu:ru teacher he(subj)-bring-dat-asp-pass book by Nu:ru ‘The teacher was brought the book by Nuru’ (85) a. *Nu:ru -chi-- l et-el-ele mwa:limu chibu:ku Nuru he(subj)-it(obj)-bring-dat-asp teacher book ‘Nuru brought the book to the teacher’ b. *Chibu:ku chi-- l et-el-el-a mwa:limu na Nu:ru book he(subj)-bring-dat-asp-pass teacher by Nuru ‘The book was brought (to) the teacher by Nuru’ Kisseberth and Abasheikh (1977:192–3) Note that the presence of a recipient object is signalled by the affix el glossed dat (it is generally called the ‘applied’ affix in Bantu linguistics). This is not a cross-reference affix because it doesn’t show agreement with the grammatical features of the recipient; rather it signals the application of a valence-change operation. It seems quite unproblematic to view the recipient in the Chi-Mwi:ni dou- ble object construction as the syntactic direct object, since it monopolizes the properties of a sole object. The theme in these constructions would then bear a different grammatical relation, which we may call ‘second object’, or ‘sec- ondary object’, if the term ‘primary object’ is being used. The availability in Universal Grammar of a direct vs second object distinction is further indicated by the existence in some languages such as Ojibwa (Rhodes (1990)) of a distinc- tion between normal transitive verbs, which take a subject and a direct object, and ‘pseudo-transitive’ verbs, which can be strongly argued to take subject and a second object, the same grammatical relation that expresses the theme in a ditransitive verb, the recipient being expressed as a direct (or ‘primary’) object. 16 16 True ptvs belong to the normal transitive class, however certain verbs with theme objects are pseudo-transitive. This is an example of why Patients need to be distinguished from themes in defining the class of ptvs. |
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