tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post111531658939344857..comments2023-05-29T08:58:13.381-04:00Comments on Recycled Knowledge: A quick tutorial on ergativity, by way of the Squid-Headed OneJohn Cowanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-61168392718347781112011-09-25T01:55:47.421-04:002011-09-25T01:55:47.421-04:00GAC, you have a point. Chinese is not only pro-dr...GAC, you have a point. Chinese is not only pro-drop, it's argument-drop generally: if a subject or object is obvious, there's no reason to say it.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-65181582180208748232011-09-22T21:49:55.442-04:002011-09-22T21:49:55.442-04:00I would still define Mandarin as an accusative lan...I would still define Mandarin as an accusative language, mainly because outside of your example, it has accusative syntax. In fact, the complex sentence you mentioned is more about the fact that the subject has been dropped than anything else. Yes, English only allows pro-dropping if both subjects of a complex sentence like that are the nominative argument, but I'm not sure how far you can take that.GAChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11756535843412579846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-168973577335219552007-06-03T03:27:00.000-04:002007-06-03T03:27:00.000-04:00The second edition of the OED (which predates the ...The second edition of the OED (which predates the ergative theory) says:<BR/><BR/>-ee¹, suffix<BR/><BR/>Used in technical terms of Eng. law, was originally an adaptation of the <I>-é</I> of certain Anglo-French past participles, which were used as nouns. The existence in legal Anglo-French of pairs of correlative words like <I>apelour</I> 'appellor', <I>apelé</I> 'appellee', seems to have led in the first place to the invention of words in <I>-ee</I> parallel to those agent-nouns in <I>-or</I> which had been adapted in legal use from Anglo-French. Subsequently the terminations <I>-or</I> and <I>-ee</I> were freely added to English verb-stems to form nouns, those in <I>-or</I> denoting the agent, and those in <I>-ee</I> the passive party, in such transactions as are the object of legislative provision.<BR/><BR/>The derivatives in <I>-ee</I> however, unlike the AF. participial nouns after which they were modelled, have not usually a grammatically passive sense, but denote the 'indirect object’ of the verbs from which they are derived. Thus <I>vendee</I> is the person to whom a sale is made, <I>indorsee</I> the person in whose favour a draft, etc. is indorsed, <I>lessee</I> the person to whom property is let. With still greater departure from the original function of the suffix, <I>payee</I> denotes the person who is entitled to be paid, whether he be actually paid or not. <BR/><BR/>In a few cases the suffix has been appended, not to a verb-stem in English or Anglo-French, but to a Latin participial stem etymologically related to an English noun, as in <I>legatee</I>, a person to whom a legacy has been bequeathed.<BR/><BR/> 2. The use of this suffix in law terms has been frequently imitated in the formation of humorous (chiefly) nonce-words, as <I>jestee</I>, <I>cuttee</I>, <I>educatee</I>, <I>laughee</I>, <I>sendee</I>, denoting the personal object of the verbs from which they are formed.<BR/><BR/> 3. In a few words, as <I>bargee</I>, <I>devotee</I>, the suffix is employed apparently arbitrarily.<BR/><BR/> 4. <I>-ee</I> also appears in the English spelling of certain nouns adopted from modern French participial nouns in <I>-é</I>, as <I>debauchee</I>, <I>refugee</I>.<BR/><BR/>-ee², suffix<BR/><BR/>Of vague meaning and obscure origin. In <I>bootee</I>, <I>coatee</I>, where it has a diminutive force, it may (though not very probably) be an altered form of <I>-y</I> (in Sc. <I>-ie</I>). In other words, as <I>goatee</I>, <I>settee</I>, the analogies that may have given rise to the suffix are uncertain.John Cowanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11452247999156925669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-49065945184400896512007-05-31T17:20:00.000-04:002007-05-31T17:20:00.000-04:00Is there a chance that the spelling is misleading ...Is there a chance that the spelling is misleading on <I>bargee</I>? Maybe we're looking at the good old West Germanic nickname suffix?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11807812.post-15463698690256743452007-02-27T06:07:00.000-05:002007-02-27T06:07:00.000-05:00Another view on Basque ergativity with death examp...Another view on Basque ergativity with <EM>death examples</EM> from a native point of view, in my blog: <A HREF="http://eibar.org/blogak/luistxo/en/basque-ergativity-murder-is-just-transitive-death" REL="nofollow">Murder is just transitive death.</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com