Active & stative verbs in biclausal sentences.

[Robert VanValin]

In my book 'Syntax' with R. LaPolla (CUP, 1997), I have a homework
problem in the grammatical relations chapter (pp. 311-13) using data I
collected back when I was working on my dissertation.  It includes data
on the issues you raise.

> Would the sentence, without any noun or pronoun mentioned for X, mean
> "the boy chased the deer and he (the boy) was very tired" OR would it
> mean "The boy chased the deer and he (the deer) was very tired."?  Or
> would it simply remain ambiguous?  How do speakers treat this?

If the conjunction is 'na', then only 'the boy' can be interpreted as
the one who is tired; when the conjunction is 'cha', then it's possible
to interpret 'the deer' as the one who is tired.  The different
interpretations seem to be a function of the different conjunctions.

Van


***********
Robert D. Van Valin, Jr.
Professor & Chair
Department of Linguistics
609 Baldy Hall
University at Buffalo
The State University at New York
Buffalo, NY  14260 USA
Phone: 716-645-2177, ext. 713
Fax: 716-645-3825
VANVALIN at BUFFALO.EDU
http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/people/faculty/vanvalin/vanvalin.html
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