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Re: Core case roles

From:bnathyuw <bnathyuw@...>
Date:Monday, August 12, 2002, 14:16
 --- julien eychenne <eychenne.j@...> wrote: >
> > (i)* The stone deliberately broke the window. >
is this some sort of cardinal test of agency ? i would have said that animals, unconscious people, computer progammes could all be seen as potential agents, but i'm not sure they could be said to do things deliberately. as to whether you _could_ say this, i'ld argue yes. it would be grossly anthropomorphic, but i've seen adults telling inanimate objects off for hurting their children &c. btw, what IS the french translation ? it's not something i've ever thought about before. could you say 'la pierre a cassé la fene^tre', or would you have to say something like 'on a cassé la fene^tre avec la pierre'. bac incidentally would render it 'stone hits (in such a way that) window breaks'. i don't yet have a word for window, but it would come out |knuy Pok window Sehkat| where strictly speaking |window Sehkat| is an adverbial phrase qualifying |knuy Pok|
> (iii) This car sits four. > This sounds strange to me, but an english native > speaker told me it was correct. (== 'you can sit 4 > in this car' or something like that). Here <this > car> is a locative promoted as a subject ! >
more likely 'seats' which is at least transitive ! the verb sleep does this too tho, and it _isn't_ usually transitive. bn __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my.yahoo.com

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julien eychenne <eychenne.j@...>