Question on topicalization

[Tibor Kiss]

Hi,

I have a question concerning the grammaticality status of certain
topicalizations in English. I hope you can help me by judging them.

Let's assume an ordinary transitive predicate embedded under a verbum
dicendi:

(1) Peter said that John likes Bill.

I assume an embedded topicalization is possible (perhaps with a little help
by only) given an appropriate context:

(2) Peter said that Bill, John likes.
(3) Peter said that only Bill, John likes.

What about such a topicalization if the object is a reflexive, as in:

(4) Peter said that himself, John likes.
(5) Peter said that only himself, John likes.

If (4) and (5) are fine, what about the following coindexation:

(6) Peter_i said that himself_i, John likes.
(7) Peter_i said that only himself_i, John likes.

Is that out. I think so.

Best

T.

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Prof. Dr. Tibor Kiss -- Sprachwissenschaftliches Institut
Ruhr-Universität Bochum, D-44780 Bochum
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