about OBJ(theta) as a controller

[Helge Lødrup]

>Is there anyone who knows any langauge in which OBJ(theta) can serve as a
>controller?

This is a question that cannot be answered easily, since it depends upon
details of theory and analysis. It is necessary to distinguish between
functional and anaphoric control. OBJtheta should not be a possible
controller with functional control, because restricted relations are tied
to one specific role, and cannot get a different role from a subordinate
predicate.
It is not always obvious if an argument is an OBJ or an OBJtheta. For
example, consider the Norwegian sentence

Per forboed barna aa slaa hundene
 Per forbade the children to hit the dogs=20

I have argued that barna 'the children' is an OBJtheta (in the analysis of
Norwegian). So we have a case of an OBJtheta as a controller. I have,
however, also argued that this is a case of anaphoric control, so it is not
a counterexample to LFG's theory of control. This is discussed in the
following paper:

Helge Lodrup: Clausal complements in English and Norwegian. Norsk
lingvistisk tidsskrift 1991, 105-136. (Oslo: Novus.)

(I am afraid this journal is not too popular outside Scandinavia, please
write and ask me to send you a copy.)

There is also something about this in the following paper:

Helge Lodrup: The realization of benefactives in Norwegian. Papers from the
31. Regional Meeting. Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.

Best, Helge


----------------------------------------------------------
Professor Helge Lodrup
University of Oslo
Department of Linguistics
Pb 1102, Blindern
N-0317 Oslo, Norway

E-mail: helge.lodrup at ilf.uio.no         Phone +47 22 85 48 31