Primary object languages & pronouns

[Dan Everett]

Thanks. But it wasn't the agreement pattern that I meant to be asking
about. That pattern is well-established in work by Dryer, Van Valin &
LaPolla, and many others. In RRG it even has a name, Primary Object
agreement. But my question had to do with the prohibition of pronouns
serving as RECIPIENTS/GOALS or indirect objects (the choice between GF
labels vs. semantic role labels depends on your favorite analysis of
dative shift/anti-dative).

-- Dan



On Wednesday, April 23, 2003, at 04:21  pm, dparvaz at UNM.EDU wrote:

>> In di-transitive clauses, however, it is the RECIPIENT/GOAL which
>> triggers/governs
>> agreement on the verb.
>>
>> [much snippage]
>>
>> Again, does anyone know of other languages with this pattern?
>
> In the sign languages that I work in -- American Sign Language (ASL)
> and the Sign
> Language of Jordan -- those verbs which do have Subject/Object
> agreement, AND are
> showing a kind of ditransitive relation (like the prototype 'give')
> typically agree with
> AGENT and RECIPIENT/GOAL. These verbs typically move in space between
> their
> arguments.
>
> So, in ASL a verb like HIT, a citation form of which looks something
> like...
>
> http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/H/W1634.htm
>
> ... (QuickTime required) starts with the "hitter" and moves to the
> "hittee" --
> definitely moving between AGENT and PATIENT. However, in the case of
> GIVE...
>
> http://commtechlab.msu.edu/sites/aslweb/G/W1443.htm
>
> ... the agreement is as you stated in your question.
>
> Hope this helps.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dan.
>
>
********************
Daniel L. Everett
Professor of Phonetics and Phonology
Department of Linguistics
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK
M13 9PL
Phone: 44-161-275-3158
Department Fax: 44-161-275-3187
http://ling.man.ac.uk/info/staff/de/
'Speech is the best show man puts on' - Whorf