Enjoyment Verbs

[Robert L. Rankin]

> I've noticed this evening that [Carolyn Quintero] has a section on Verbs
> of Enjoyment' (p. 268), listing kidhaliN 'to like, love to do
> something', kihoN'oN 'to really love to do something, to be pleased',
> and ki'zo 'to have fun doing something'.  These are inflected as
> experiencer verbs, in that the (dative) patient is the one that enjoys,
> while the thing enjoyed appears as a noun.  Caroline specifies that this
> noun cannot take the animate subject articles akxa and apa and considers
> that it cannot therefore be a subject.

The observations about subject (agent?) markers is interesting.  We need
to check more of these, for example, the body parts used with -nie 'to
hurt, ache' (Dakotan yaza~).  Are the body parts subjects?  Can they be
agents?  Is there a difference in Dhegiha or other Siouan lgs?

Carolyn's dhali~ has a Kaw cognate, yali~, which alone has the clear
meaning 'good'.  So her examples could mean "X is good for/to me."  But
that would imply that X is indeed a subject.  This fascinating discrepancy
between morphology, syntax and semantics (the not-uncommon problem of what
to do with inanimate agents -- if that is what they are) badly needs to be
explored. Omaha and Ponca may be the only Dhegiha languages in which it's
any longer possible.

Bob