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Dear Seppo<br>
<br>
a late reply to your inquiry: this kind of polysemy is not uncommon in
Sinitic languages; a good example being the Min dialects where the same
morpheme can be used for beneficiary; source; patient and goal (for
communication verbs only in the latter case) :<br>
<br>
Fengfu <u>Tsao</u> and Shou-hsin <u>Teng</u> have both written on
this for Southern Min (the Taiwanese Hokkien dialect) and I've
published an article on it too from an historical perspective for the
same group of languages. The morpheme in question is <i>ka7 . </i>The
same applies for Hakka<i> lau11 </i>too<i><br>
<br>
</i>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">1.<i> </i>KA=Benefactive
marker <br>
<i>lì </i><i style="">
<span style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">ê</span><span style=""> </span>
saN, i ē
<span style="">k<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">ā</span> </span>
<span style="">lì </span> se</i><br>
2sg GEN clothes, 3SG will KA(=Ben) 2SG wash<br>
'S/He will wash your clothes.'<br>
<br>
<br>
2. KA = source marker<br>
<br>
<i style="">I beh
<span style="">k<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">ā</span> </span>
<span style="">lì </span>
thó chîN
o?</i><br>
3SG want KA 2SG
demand:back money PRT<br>
<br>
'Does s/he want to get the money back from you?'</span></p>
<font face="Times New Roman"><br>
<br>
<br>
3. KA = patient marker<br>
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -13.7pt;"><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;" lang="NL">np<sub>agent</sub> –<span
style=""> </span><i style="">k<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">a</span>
– </i>np<sub>object<span style=""> </span></sub> – <i style=""><span
style=""> </span></i>vp<b style=""> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -13.7pt;"><span
style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">啊</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">汝</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">共</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">汝</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">的</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">氣力</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span><span
style=""> </span></span><span
style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">攏</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">用去</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><span style="">
</span></span><span style="font-family: PMingLiU;" lang="ZH-TW">啊</span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -13.7pt;"><i style=""><span
style="" lang="EN-US">a<span style=""> </span>lì<span
style=""> </span>k<span style="letter-spacing: 0.5pt;">ā</span><span
style=""> </span>lì<span style=""> </span><span
style="letter-spacing: 0.6pt;">ê</span><span style=""> </span>khùi-lat<span
style=""> </span>lóng<span style=""> </span>iōng-khì<span
style=""> </span>a<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -13.7pt;"><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;" lang="EN-US">prt</span><span style=""
lang="EN-US"><span style=""> </span><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">2sg</span><span style=""> </span><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">acc </span><span style=""> </span><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">2sg</span><span style=""> </span><span
style="font-variant: small-caps;">gen</span><span style=""> </span>strength<span
style=""> </span>all<span style=""> </span>use-go<span
style=""> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">prt<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: -13.7pt;"><span style=""
lang="EN-US">‘You used up all your strength.’ <span style="">
</span>[Jesse’s Story: </span><span
style="font-family: "Chn FMing S5";" lang="EN-US">823</span><span
style="" lang="EN-US">]<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<br>
<br>
best <br>
Hilary Chappell<br>
<font face="Times New Roman"><br>
<br>
Seppo Kittilä a écrit :</font>
<blockquote cite="midfa01cad04c948.432e869c@utu.fi" type="cite">
<pre wrap=""><font face="Times New Roman">Dear Typologists,
I am looking for languages in which any kind of source element (such as ablative case/adposition) would be used to code benefiaries as well. Finnish is a language in which this occurs, as the following examples show (N.B.: the ablative is only one way of coding beneficiary in Finnish, and its use is not possible for this function in all cases, but in (1) and (2) it is the most natural way of coding beneficiary):
(1) vanhempi pes-i lapse-lta käde-t
parent.NOM wash-3SG.PAST child-ABL hand-PL
'A/the parent washed the child's hands (for the child)'
(2) hoitaja vaihto-i vanhukse-lta lakana-t
nurse.NOM change-3SG.PAST older.person-ABL sheet-PL
'A/the nurse changed the sheets for the older person'
I have been studying beneficiaries, recipients and sources from a cross-linguistic perspective, but I have not come across another language in which cases like (1) and (2) would be possible. There are languages in which dative (or a similar case) can be used to encode recipients, sources and beneficiaries, but are there languages in which source and beneficiary (excluding recipient) receive the same formal treatment? I would be extremely grateful for any help.
All the best,
Seppo
</font>
</pre>
</blockquote>
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