Re: THEORY: Non-nom Subj & Nom Obj -- Quirky OVS Word Order Or Quirky Case?
| From: | Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, August 6, 2005, 14:02 |
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Hallo!
Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Hi!
>
> [...]
>
> Anyway, using some tests, you can check that the status of the
> nominative object is different from a nominative subject, namely by
> checking whether it can be referred back to in a coordinated clause
> from an ellipsis. IIRC, it was Markus who mentioned this a few days
> ago. Usually:
>
> 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.)
Greetings,
Jörg.
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