"laud" as a dative alternation verb

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 13:53:37 -0800, Arnold M. Zwicky
<zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU> wrote:

>Jennifer Ludden, on NPR's Morning Edition, 11/11/04, of Yasser Arafat:
>"...but Palestinians lauded him a hero".
>
>this moves "laud" into one of the subtypes of dative alternation verbs
>(Levin, English Verb Classes and Alternations, section 2.1),
>specifically the "non-alternating double object" subtype (Levin, (119)
>on p. 47), lacking a prepositional alternative.  by its semantics,
>"laud" seems to straddle three of levin's subsubtypes:
>   Appoint verbs: designate, ordain, proclaim, elect,...
>   Dub verbs: call, decree, pronounce, term,...
>   Declare verbs: adjudge, declare, judge,...
>but syntactically it looks like an Appoint verb, which can take an "as"
>complement:
>   designate/ordain/proclaim/elect him (as) a representative
>compare:
>   laud/praise/celebrate/honor him as a hero.
>
>a google search on
>   "lauded him" -as -for
>pulls up no examples parallel to the Arafat example.  i judge the other
>praise verbs to be even worse than "laud" in the double-object
>construction, but then what do i know?  anyone have similar examples?

I coaxed these examples out of Google:

-----------
Some call for the conductor’s job; others laud him a hero.
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/iraq_conflict/article/0,1406,KNS_9217_1838406,00.html

Chris Tarrant: while I'm not ready to laud him a superstar...
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/archives/2003season/outsidethebox02.html

The man gets a couple grand for waking up in the morning, and we need to
laud him a hero for auctioning off some of his signed gear for a donation?
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=wkCt7.15562$c8.2130064@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com

And a heart-throb to boot: magazine polls lauded him the 'next big thing'.
http://www.joemcfadden.net/pressroom/press17.html

So the actor and the director praised Tim on his doughnut-gettingness and
lauded him the best doughnut-getter.
http://www.mcafy.com/leaf/j041702.htm

The Japanese Government lauded her the Best Artist of the Year in 1988.
http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/199812/14/1214155.htm

This situation is reminiscent of the whole Jessica Lynch case, where some
lauded her a hero...
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=WKidnbb5Np3F6aLdRVn-vg@texas.net

This book is getting a poor response, to the dismay of those who laud
Clinton a hero.
http://www.redrightandblue.com/phpnuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=94

It's been a roller coaster ride for the Fame Academy champion with some
lauding him a top-notch song writer...
http://www.davidfans.co.uk/newsblog/index.php?cat=3

Rall summed up Tillman as both an "idiot" and a "sap" while newspaper
editors across the country are foolishly lauding him a "hero."
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18168&newsid=11452247&PAG=461&rfi=9

Are people right for lauding him a genius?
http://therazer.mindsay.com/2003/
-----------

In addition, there are 38 hits on Google for "lauded a hero" (e.g., "John
Kennedy was lauded a hero for his actions on PT-109").  This suggests that
the passive construction is more acceptable to some, perhaps because the
two objects of the verb do not appear consecutively.

--Ben Zimmer