<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>lack of casemarking in answers?</TITLE>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear Niels,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>my answer is inserted into your query.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I was glad meeting you in Amsterdam!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Paolo</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>prof.Paolo Ramat<BR>Università di Pavia<BR>Dipartimento di Linguistica
Teorica e Applicata<BR>tel. ##39 0382 984 484<BR>fax ##39 0382 984 487<BR></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=N.Smit@UVA.NL href="mailto:N.Smit@UVA.NL">Smit, N.</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
href="mailto:LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG">LINGTYP@LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 23, 2006 4:13 PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> lack of casemarking in
answers?</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR></DIV><!-- Converted from text/rtf format -->
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Does anyone know of languages that employ no or
default casemarking on NPs used as single-word answers, if the thematic
relation of the questioned constituent to the state-of-affairs can be
retrieved from the question itself? These would be cases like the following
(only then in languages with overt casemarking):</FONT></P>
<P><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>Did you buy a book<SUB>Pat</SUB>? No, a
doll<SUB>0</SUB></FONT></I> </P>
<P><EM><SUB><FONT face=Arial>Ital. behaves in the very same manner: <U>Hai
comprato un libro? No, una bambola</U> (with 0 marking as in Engl.,since Ital.
does not know case markers, but with obligatory DET before
N)</FONT></SUB></EM></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am primarily interested in arguments rather than
adjuncts. The little data I have is from German; it is very inconclusive but
seems to suggest that the casemarking used in the question should at all times
be repeated on the answer. Dutch, a close relative, has no casemarking at all
on NPs but does require use of the properly inflected pronoun in case of a
single-word answer, which seems to point in the same direction.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>Even more interesting would be cases where both is
possible (i.e. omission and repetition of casemarking), and where the
distinction would have an identifiable influence on the answer's
interpretation. This situation seems to obtain for certain oblique NPs in
English (</FONT><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>Where did you go to? - Switzerland
/ to Switzerland</FONT></I></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><EM>The double possibility does not exist in
Ital.:<U> Dove sei andato? In Svizzera /*Svizzera</U> </EM>); I would be
very interested to know if languages allow this for
non-obliques.</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><EM><FONT face=Arial size=2>I think you should consider Modern Greek, which
has case and gender marking like German.</FONT></EM></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would be most grateful for your information.
Thanks, best regards,</FONT> </P>
<P><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial
size=2>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Niels
Smit
</FONT></SPAN><BR><SPAN
lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>University of Amsterdam</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Amsterdam Center for Language and
Communication</FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P><SPAN lang=en-us><B><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>!!NEW
ADDRESS!!</FONT></I></B><I><FONT face=Arial size=2>
</FONT></I></SPAN><BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Faculty of
Humanities, dept. of Theoretical Linguistics</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN
lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Spuistraat 210, room 309</FONT></SPAN>
<BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>1012 VT Amsterdam,
NL</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Tel:
+31 (0) 20 525 2191
</FONT></SPAN><BR><SPAN
lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fax: +31 (0) 84 225
4183</FONT></SPAN> <BR><SPAN lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Web: <A
href="http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/n.smit">http://home.medewerker.uva.nl/n.smit</A>
</FONT></SPAN><BR><SPAN
lang=en-us><FONT face=Arial
size=2>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</FONT></SPAN>
</P></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>