Re: Core case roles

 --- 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

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