[Lexicog] Re: meaning and usage of "on me"

[Rudolph Troike]

I encountered the positive "ethical dative" in Spanish recently, after
hearing our nanny tell our twins "Cometelo" ('eat-yourself-it') and
"Tomatela" ('drink-yourself-it'). I originally mistook it as a reflexive,
as suggested in the glosses, but was informed by a Spanish linguist friend
that it is used in familiar contexts where the "te" is an affectionate
benefactive.

I'm a long-standing admirer of Charles Fillmore's Case Grammar, and still
teach that in my English grammar classes, since it makes so much sense.
(Chomsky hijacked the idea in his 'theta-roles', which, however, play no
significant role in his still purely Structuralist theory.) In Fillmore's
terms (and others who have adapted the ideas as 'semantic roles'), the deep
Case (Kasus) would be "Experiencer", which would encompass David's "affected".
Experiencer is most often realized as Dative case, or pre/postpositional
"to" or equivalent (Japanese "ni"). For whatever reason, this malefactive
use that Ken identified in English is marked with a Locative "on", though
the meaning clearly relates to the Experiencer/Dative.

   Rudy Troike


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