LINGUIST List 15.1349

Thu Apr 29 2004

Qs: Greek Double Accusative; English Light/Dark 'L'

Editor for this issue: Naomi Fox <foxlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Mikko Kupula, Double accusative in Modern Greek
2. Corrine Occhino, light and dark l in English

I have a question concerning the double accusative construction in
Modern Greek. These constructions can be seen as an idiosyncratic
subclass of double object constructions in MG (which in MG are usually
in the form of NP(acc)NP(gen) or NP(acc)PP, the double accusative
variant is unproductive and restricted to at most ten ditransitive
verbs). The case properties of the arguments (Goal/Benefactive (NP1)
and Theme/Patient (NP2)) are somewhat peculiar. In the active voice
the Patient seems to be inactive syntactically in the sense that it
cannot be passivized or undergo clitic doubling (only the Goal has
these properties, correctly suggesting that it is a structural direct
object). The behavior of the Patient suggests that its case features
are inherent.

In the passive voice things change dramatically, however. When the
Goal/Benefactive has been passivized, the retained Patient IS able to
undergo clitic doubling which in MG is a reliable diagnostic of
objects (both direct and indirect) bearing structural case. The data
from Modern Greek suggest that passive verbs are able to license
accusative case (!). How are these case-features checked in a
framework where accusative case is expected to be ''absorbed''? In
addition, what kind of case does the Patient bear in the active voice?

Best regards,
Mikko 

Subject-Language: Greek; Code: GRK 

I am currently conducting a tiny (20-question) online survey on the
distribution of light and dark l in English, and hope that you and/or
your students will consider taking it. The URL for the survey is:

http://www.survey.net.nz/survey.php?531dc45327c3770612ec4ff1c4dca159

If anyone is interested, I will post a summary of the results on the
List once a sufficient # of responses has come in.

Thanks for your help,

Corrine