More on "Experiencer Subjects"

[R. Rankin]

I am probably responsible for some of the confusion in
recent correspondence on this topic. I have not been
careful with my wording, I'm afraid, and have used the
term "experiencer subject".  I should probably simply
omitted the reference to "subject".  I feel we are
dealing with semantic roles (semantic case, 'deep'
case, theta roles, whatever), of which "experiencer" is
certainly one, and I should not have coupled it with
"subject", which is a grammatical relation, not a
semantic role.  If this has created misunderstandings,
I'm sorry.

Obviously these matters are going to have to be dealt
with by any linguist working with a typical Siouan
language, but different models of grammar treat them
differently.  Those of you in the throes of
thesis-writing have mentioned having to stick to
particular orthodoxies.  Let me play devil's advocate
and point out that the dissertations that have had the
greatest impact have not been the ones that simply
treated a language within a particular model.  Rather
they have been the dissertations that used data from
particular languages to CHALLENGE the model(s).  George
Lakoff's comes to mind most readily, but there have
been others.  On the other hand, I wouldn't want to get
anyone into trouble, and these are perhaps questions
best taken up with ones advisors.

Bob

----- Original Message -----
From: Koontz John E <John.Koontz at colorado.edu>
To: Siouan List <siouan at lists.colorado.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 04, 2002 1:25 AM
Subject: More on Experiencer Subjects and/or
Pseudo-Transitives (?)


> Rankin's quesitonaire on case alignment from the
archives of the list:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9902&
L=siouan&D=0&P=73
>
> Rankin's list of stative verbs with active meanings
in Kaw from the
> archives of the list:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9903&
L=siouan&P=70
>
> Osage verbs of enjoyment and subjects from the
archives:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9904&
L=siouan&P=R2435&D=0
>
> Forms with experiencer subjects in Omaha-Ponca in the
archives of the
> list:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9902&
L=siouan&P=R258
>
> Omaha-Ponca comparisons with Rankin's statives with
active meaning from
> the archives:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9903&
L=siouan&P=R484
>
> There is a set of examples of Omaha-Ponca git?e and
t?e in the archives of
> the list at:
>
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0005&
L=siouan&P=R620.
>
> John E. Koontz
> http://spot.colorado.edu/~koontz
>