The return of Spiderman

[Dick Hudson]

Dear Tibor,
You overestimate me, I'm afraid. I can't speak this dialect - I just read
about it in books about English dialects. Your original sentence is just as
bad for me as it is for everyone else on this list, and likewise for "Ivan
told me told Carl".
Dick

>
>So then, if this is English, and some of you are English speakers, what
>about your intuitions? Does the chain-element have to be case-neutral or
>would a 'me' also be appropriate in the position of Y? Do I see this right
>that at least Dick Hudson is able to judge the sentence? If yes, Dick, what
>about 'Ivan told me told Carl.' (Sounds ugly to me and surely much worse
>than 'Ivan told Carl told me.', but who am I to judge?)


Richard (= Dick) Hudson

Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London,
Gower Street, London WC1E  6BT.
+44(0)20 7679 3152; fax +44(0)20 7383 4108;
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm