THEORY: case systems [was Viko Notes]

Quoting Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>:

> On 25 Jun 02, at 16:36, Thomas R. Wier wrote:
>
> > Yes.  In the pronouns, a case system is still extant, although it
> > behaves very differently from classical case systems like Latin or
> > Greek, and is in a state of flux.  It's still ungrammatical to say
> > *"Me see that man" or *"He sees I", and therefore case is still a
> > relevant notion in English.
>
> On the other hand, a bunch of people say "Give it to Jim and I" and/or
> "Him and me saw the car go past", so as soon as another word (even
> another pronoun, in some cases) is joint subject or object along with a
> pronoun, the pronoun may change case.
Yes. As I said:  English case behaves differently from systems like Latin
and Greek, and it is in a state of flux.  Any theory of morphosyntax still
needs to be able to explain this kind behavior for a given dialect
or register.  (Note that your first example is almost always an instance
of hypercorrection, in that that speaker usually doesn't also say *"give
it to Jim and he" or "give it to Jim and they".  Your second example
where two accusative-marked pronouns can be used as subjects if
conjoined is far more systematic and widespread, and so does need to
be accounted for in a theory of morphosyntax in a way your first does
not.)

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier          "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers

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