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<div>At 9:38 PM -0700 7/14/01, Rudolph C Troike wrote:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>Growing up in southmost Texas, I was
largely out of the reach of<br>
"Appalachian"-type South Midland, but the structure is not
uncomfortable<br>
for me (i.e., I don't associate it with nonstandard or
working-class<br>
speech, though the joking stereotype is certainly recognizable as
such;<br>
I suspect that it was common on the Beverly Hillbillies). It is
certainly<br>
more economical than the reflexive (where that is even possible):<br>
<br>
I bought me/myself a new
computer.<br>
I found me/??myself a coat
I could wear.<br>
I caught me/*myself a
really bad cold.<br>
<br>
The objective (dative) form patterns like other pronouns:<br>
<br>
I'll find you a coat you
can wear.<br>
I'll find him a coat he
can wear.<br>
He found me a coat I could
wear.</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite> She found her/herself
a coat she could wear.<br>
</blockquote>
<div>As the "find" and "catch" examples show,
it's important to distinguish the "argument" cases (with a
real direct or indirect object) with the non-argument (often
benefactive, but often omissible) cases. "I wrote me a
letter" doesn't mean that I was the intended recipient of the
letter, and thus doesn't really just offer a more economical version
of the non-equivalent "I wrote myself a letter." Note
the difference between</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">I am a rake and a
ramblin' boy<br>
There's many a city I did enjoy;<br>
And then<b> I</b> married<b> me</b> a pretty little wife<br>
And I loved her dearer than I loved my life. <br>
</font> </div>
<div>and</div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000"><b>I</b>'m gonna hire<b>
me </b> a wino to decorate our home.</font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">So you'll feel more at
ease, dear, and you won't have to roam.<x-tab>
</x-tab></font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000"><br></font></div>
<div>(both of which involve the "personal dative") on the
one hand, and</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000"><b>I</b>'m gonna sit
right down and write<b> myself</b> a letter.</font><br>
<font face="Palatino" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div>(which involves a true argument, and hence a reflexive) on the
other. (It's because the PD isn't a true argument that it can
show up without reflexive marking in the same clause as a
coreferential antecedent.) It's even possible to get
"I'm gonna write me a letter to my ex-wife" or
"He's gonna buy him a pickup for his son" where the PD
shows up alongside the actual indirect object.</div>
<div>Some attested examples of the non-argument PD (several of these
from an unpublished paper by Clare Danneburg & Gerd Webelhuth,
"<font face="Times" color="#000000">The Theoretical Importance
of Southern English Personal Datives</font>") include</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>"<font face="Palatino" color="#000000"><b>I</b> seen<b>
me</b> a mermaid once."</font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">"<b>We</b> elected<b>
us</b> Ike President."</font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">"<b>We</b> want<b>
us</b> a black German police dog cause I had one
once."</font></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">"<b>That house</b>
needs<b> it</b> a new roof."</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>and my personal favorite,</div>
<div><br></div>
<div><font face="Palatino" color="#000000">"What I like is
goats. <b> I</b> just like to look at<b> me</b> some
goats."</font></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>--Larry</div>
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