Re: THEORY: Why more than two grammatical relations?

Eldin Raigmore wrote:
> AIUI languages with tritransitive verbs -- three kinds of Object -- are
> usually thought of as having a Primary Object and two kinds of Secondary
> Object.  How does it serve a language's purposes to have four grammatical
> relations rather than only three?
In the case I know best, that is, in German, the different kinds of "secondary"
objects have different original connotations. However, these are hardly
productive any more, so their distribution depends on the verbs. Three
samples:

1. Sie sieht ihren Bruder. 'She sees her brother.' Accusative object, direct
object, no special connotation, goal of the activity or patiens.

2. Sie hilft ihrem Bruder. 'She helps her brother.' Dative object. The original
meaning may be described as beneficiary. The connotation would be that
"her brother" is not simply the goal of her activity, but receives a benefit of it.

3. Sie gedenkt ihres Bruders. 'She commemorates her brother.' Genitive
object. The original meaning may be described as partitive. The connotation
would be that that "her brother" is not simply the goal of her activity, but
that it is only a part that belongs to "her brother" as commemoration will not
bring him back entirely. Compare the English construction "she thinks of her
brother".

I hope I haven't misunderstood what you've asked for...

---
grüess
mach

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