Re: THEORY: Non-nom Subj & Nom Obj -- Quirky OVS Word Order Or Quirky Case?

Hi!

Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> writes:
>..
> > a) Ich trinke Bier und []  esse Wurst
> >    NOM        ACC      NOM      ACC.
> >    I   drink  beer and [] eat  sausage
> >    'I'm drinking beer and [I] am eating sausage.'
> >
> > (Gap marked with [].)
>
> This kind of test fails in languages with an ergative or split-S
> pivot.  In Dyirbal, for instance, which has an ergative pivot,
> the sentence `The child threw the ball and [] fell' would mean
> `The child threw the ball and [the ball] fell'.  (ObConlang:
> The same in Old Albic, which has a fluid-S pivot.)
Yes, I know.  Well it does work -- only reversed.
Anyway, this was for specifically German tests. :-)

Actually, in many pro-drop language, this does not work at all since
you can drop whatever pronoun anyway, so coordination with ellipsis is
nothing special and does not check anything.  John Cowan once gave
examples for Chinese that suggested it was neither accusative nor
ergative:

   I carry the vase and [] fell.       -- The vase fell?  I fell?  Ambiguous!

   I carry the tea and [] drink.       -- I drink.
   I carry the tea and [] is too hot.  -- The tea is too hot.

Anyway, when I told a Korean, he said it was the same in Korean, which
is quite obviously accusative, so my own interpretation is that this
test is likely not to work in pro-drop languages.

**Henrik