Re: Natlag: Middle English impersonal verbs

----- Original Message -----
From: "Benct Philip Jonsson" <bpj@...>


> Sally Caves skrev:
>
>> Me mette.  It dreamed to me.  I think this construction exists in several
>> languages to this day.  Icelandic?
>
> Auðvitað!  There are some verbs constructed with an accusative
> subject and a whole bunch that take a dative subject, though
> _mig dreymir_ "I dream", _mig langar_ "I long for", _mér líkar_
Sooo cognate with Old English.  Also in the "Wife's Lament,"  ond mec
longade.  And it longed to me/I was in longing.  So, likar is cognate with
lician, but it means "long for"?

> "I like" are the only ones I can recall off the top of my head.
> _Mér tekur á bakið/haus/..._ "My back/head/... hurts" is a
> borderline case, I think.
Way cool.

They exist in German, too.  Doh!  Mir ist kalt.  Mir geht es gut. Mir
gefaellt, etc.  Seems to like perception.  We had a lively discussion years
and years ago with Matt Pearson, who was developing his perception verbs in
his ergative/active Tokana and casting the subject in the dative.  My
apologies to Matt if I have misrepresented this, but I think we recalled a
theory that Indo-European may have originally been ergative and became
accusative.  What is the relationship of these so-called
impersonal/perception verbs to ergative languages?  Or better, to active
languages?  You may remember this discussion, Benct, and the controversial
nature of this idea.  I've seen it in studies of IE.

Sally

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