Re: Ethical dative (was: Question about transitivity etc.)

Hello,

> Also in Ukrainian. Though it seems its usage is limited to
> cases when the action
> is accomplished without any special intention:
Ditto Russian.

> Ide *sobi* Ivan, spivaje.
> go.3s refl.pron.Dat. John sing.3s
> John merely is walking and singing.
I wonder if things like

takyj sobi nezalezhyj feodal
such-NOM-MASC-SG refl.pron-DAT independent feudal.superior

are of a similar kind.

I'm not too sure of the correct translation, but I guess it would be
something like 'an independent feudal superior of a certain kind'.

(Quoted from a translation of Bloch's _La société féodale_. In Russian
the construction is colloquial, but in the book I'm quoting such
examples abound, which seems to indicate it is literary in Ukrainian).

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

Is mall a mharcaicheas am fear a bheachdaicheas
                 --Scottish proverb

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