Anomalous word order with pronominal vs non-pronominal objec (fwd)

[Andrew Carnie]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 98 12:11:19 GMT
From: cecil-ward at psion.com
To: celtling at mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Anomalous word order with pronominal vs non-pronominal objec

Could anyone help me out by suggesting some references that might be
relevant to the following topic, in Celtic or in other languages?

I've been thinking about sentences such as the following in Scottish Gaelic
 a.        Chi\          mi        a-ma\ireach aig a' che\ilidh i.
        See-NON-PAST  PRON-1sg  tomorrow    at  ART cei\lidh PRON-3sg
        "I'll see her tomorrow at the ce\ilidh"
whereas the following is ungrammatical
      *Chi\ mi   i   a-ma\ireach aig a' che\ilidh
        "I'll see her tomorrow at the ce\ilidh"

Comparing this with the normal word-order
 b.        Chi\          mi        Mo/rag   a-ma\ireach aig a' che\ilidh
        See-NON-PAST  PRON-1sg  Mo/rag   tomorrow    at  ART cei\lidh
        "I'll see Mo/rag tomorrow at the ce\ilidh"

What seems to be going on here is that the anomalous word-order of (a) is
triggered when the object is a (personal) pronoun.

This is reminiscent of the French
        "Je t'aime"
      *"Je aime tu"  (presumably)
  but        "J' aime Marie"
        "Marie t'aime"



Cecil Ward. ("cecil-ward at psion.com")