"I'm gonna buy me a dog"

[Mira Ariel]

Dear Jo,

I agree with Larry Gorbet.

1. I'm gonna buy me a dog: Me is an argument, and alternates with a
reflexive. I argue that the grammaticization of the reflexive in English has
not been completed, so self-directed actions such as these did not
necessarily conventionalize as reflexives.
 (Cf. ?? I sold me a dog yesterday -- Imagine you work at a pet shop and you
sold yourself a dog there. You would then say I sold myself a dog).

2. I'm gonna run me... Here 'me' is not an argument. Keenan called such
pronouns pleonastic. In fact, my ?? example -- I'm gonna sell me a dog --
can be ok under this reading. Here me probably means something like the
action will favorably affect me.

In some languages (e.g., Hebrew) there's no necessary corefernce in this
type of example. I can say: She's gonna run me... And the effect can be
positive or negative.

Best,

Mira Ariel


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jo Rubba" <jrubba at calpoly.edu>
To: "funknet" <FUNKNET at mailman.rice.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2004 21:11
Subject: [FUNKNET] "I'm gonna buy me a dog"


> Hi, all,
>
> People on our grammar-teaching list have been discussing indirect
> objects. Examples from various English dialects came up, such as "I'm
> gonna run me the best race of my life" or "I'm gonna bake me a cake".
> Are these being analyzed as middle-voice (or similar) constructions?
>
> Thanks --
>
> Jo
> ***************************************************
> Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
> English Department, Cal Poly State University
> San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
> Tel. 805-756-2184 ~ Dept. phone 805-756-2596
> Dept. fax: 805-756-6374 ~  E-mail: jrubba at calpoly.edu
> URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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