betting questionniare

[Paolo Ramat]

Prof. Paolo Ramat
Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori (IUSS)
Responsabile della classe di Scienze Umane
V.le Lungo Ticino Sforza 56, 27100 Pavia - Italia
Tel. +39 0382 375811 Fax +39 0382 375899


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Siewierska, Anna" <a.siewierska at LANCASTER.AC.UK>
To: <LINGTYP at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
Sent: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 11:25 PM
Subject: betting questionniare


Dear colleague,



We are doing a survey on betting constructions and would very much 
appreciate your help. Below is a short questionniare with a number of 
questions relating to various aspects of betting constuctions. If you could 
answer any of these with respect to your native langauge or any other 
language that you know we would be very grateful.   We suspect that the 
constructions that we are after may not be present in all languages. 
However, we have good reason to believe that betting constructions are not 
restricted to just European languages.



We have already had some interesting responses from several colleagues who 
we approached individually for which we are very grateful. We will post 
these together with any repsonses that we get now once we have collated all 
the information.



If you have any other observations about the linguistic expression of bets 
not covered by the questionniare, please do share them with us.



Thank you very much for your help.





Dan Ponsford, Anna Siewierska, Willem Hollmann

Lancaster University





Questionniare





Please give the name of your language (including variety).
ITALIAN (standard variety)







Here is a little scenario: I ask my mother to do something. She may 
remember; she may forget. I say to you:



"I bet you fifty dollars she forgets"



Please answer the following questions.







(1) How would you express the sequence in quotes most naturally in your 
language? Please gloss your example.

a.  Scommetto  50 dollari che   dimentica
    I.bet                             that  forgets

b. Ci                                                scommetto 50 che 
dimentica
    here, in the present situation

(Note: *you* is omitted, since usually one bets  his/her interlocutor. A 
sentence like *Scommetto con te [lit.:with you]  50 dollari* sounds 
overabundant. But
*Scommetto con lui [lit.:with him] 50 dollari* is fine.  Furthermore, Ital. 
being a pro-drop lg., needs not to express "she". As for b., the verb 
*scommetterci* [1st sg, pres. *ci scommetto*] has more or less the same 
meaning as *scommettere*, the clitic *ci* adds a note of  'hic et nunc')




Betting is often done on sports. Here is a second little scenario:



Me and my brother are watching a football match between Manchester United 
and Barcelona. He says that Manchester United will win. But I think 
Barcelona will win. I say to him:



"I bet you fifty dollars Barcelona win"
Scommetto 50 dollari che   il B.      vince
I.bet                           that  the B.    wins



(2) How would you express the sequence in quotes? Please gloss your example.

??









(3) If your answer to (1) or (2) used a word specifically meaning 'bet' or 
'to bet', does this word have any senses other than the betting sense?
No: *scommettere* has a very specialized meaning







(4) If your answer to (1) mentioned 'I' and 'you', is it also possible to 
express the same meaning without mentioning 'I', without mentioning 'you', 
or without mentioning either? If so, please give examples.

See my note to (1)













(5) Is there a conventional way of agreeing to a bet in your language? In 
English, bets are conventionally accepted with expressions such as "Done!" 
or "You're on!"











(6) Can a construction similar to the one in your answer to (1) be used to 
show how strongly one believes a proposition to be true? For example, in 
English it is possible to say the following with no gambling intention.



I bet you anything they won't come

I bet you they won't come

I bet they won't come



If this is possible in your language, could you provide a glossed example. 
If it is not possible, how would you express the same meaning?













(7) How would you express the following in your language? Please give 
glossed examples.



I'll give you fifty dollars





I promise you fifty dollars





I promise you she'll forget





I predict that she'll forget





I will put the money there







There may be aspects of betting constructions that occurred to you but are 
not covered by these questions. If you'd like to comment further, please do 
so.



Many thanks for your help.