reciprocals as subjects

[Jose-Luis Mendivil]

Dear Nino:

Although far from being an expert in Basque, I agree with Jon Aske: I
can't see the example in (1) as an instance of a 'reflexive subject':

>
>   (1)     neure buruak hilko nau
>           my head-DET-ERG it.kills.me aux
>           Lit.: Myself kills me

Of course there is an anaphoric relation between subject and object,
as in the following Spanish examples:

(2)     Me golpeo a mi mismo
        (I) hit myself
(3)     Yo mismo me golpeo
        I myself hit(me)

In (2) we have a pro-dropped nominative subject (yo) and a dative
reflexive, but in (3), with the same propositional meaning, we have
not a subject reflexive but a nominative argument subject with an
intensifier 'myself' and a pro-dropped (co-referential with the
clitic 'me', as in (2)) dative object. In spite of that, in (3) the
reflexive is the object, not the subject.

Best regards,
Jose-Luis Mendivil.