12.899, Qs: "Croak" as Trans Verb, Paraguayan Spanish

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-12-899. Thu Mar 29 2001. ISSN: 1068-4875.

Subject: 12.899, Qs: "Croak" as Trans Verb, Paraguayan Spanish

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1)
Date:  Thu, 29 Mar 2001 10:34:44 -0600 (CST)
From:  Anatol Stefanowitsch <anatol at ruf.rice.edu>
Subject:  Qs: Transitive use of _croak_

2)
Date:  Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:24:47 -0700
From:  "sonia.colina" <scolina at asu.edu>
Subject:  Qs: Native speakers of Paraguayan Spanish

-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 29 Mar 2001 10:34:44 -0600 (CST)
From:  Anatol Stefanowitsch <anatol at ruf.rice.edu>
Subject:  Qs: Transitive use of _croak_

Dear fellow linguists,

I am interested in the transitive use of the verb _croak_,
as in the following attested examples:

(1) [About a character in a computer game] There's
    crocodiles, lawnmowers, turtles and snakes waiting to
    croak him.

(2) I croaked him just as he was going to call the bulls
    with a police whistle. I used a gun with a silencer.

(3) Shortly after Muhammad Ali completed the 'Rumble in
    the Jungle by croaking George Foreman to repossess
    the heavyweight championship...

(4) It was as if Ulf Samuelsson came to town and croaked
    the Bruins with a couple of goals.

I have enough examples of this use from corpora and other
texts to be convinced that I am not simply dealing with
nonce extensions of the intransitive use, but on the other
hand I have not been able to find native speakers who are
willing to admit that they have ever heard this use before.

I have two questions to you all:

1. If you have ever heard anyone use _croak_ transitively,
   or if you are a native speaker and use it yourself,
   where have you heard it, or where are you from?

2. Are you aware of other English verbs for 'die/kill'
   that can be used both transitively and intransitively?

I appreciate your help.

Best,
Anatol Stefanowitsch
(Rice University)


-------------------------------- Message 2 -------------------------------

Date:  Thu, 29 Mar 2001 12:24:47 -0700
From:  "sonia.colina" <scolina at asu.edu>
Subject:  Qs: Native speakers of Paraguayan Spanish

I am looking for native speakers of Paraguayan Spanish (Spanish as spoken
in Paraguay) that could help me with some data. If there are any out there,
how would you form the diminutives (e.g. casa, casita; canción,
cancioncita; clase, clasecita, etc.) of the following words?

	pie
	red
	sed
	té

Thank you very much.

Sonia Colina

***********************************
Sonia Colina
Assistant Professor
Department of Languages and Literatures
Arizona State University
Main Campus, PO Box 870202
Tempe, AZ 85287-0202, USA
Ph (480) 965-4649
Fax (480) 965-0135
e-mail: scolina at asu.edu
***********************************

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