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Chapter 9. Accusative sickness?

A brief epidemic in the history of German
  • Tonya Kim Dewey-Findell and Stephen Mark Carey
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Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects
This chapter is in the book Non-Canonically Case-Marked Subjects

Abstract

Germanic languages that retain case marking and oblique subjects may undergo a change in argument structure over time. Nominative Sickness in Germanic has been demonstrated by Eythórsson (2002) and Barðdal (2009, 2011) for verbal arguments in which obliques are replaced with the nominative. Additionally, formerly accusative subjects become dative, a process widely referred to as Dative Sickness or Dative Substitution in the international literature. Dative Sickness is found across the development of several Germanic Languages (Barðdal 2011; Dunn et al. 2017). However, a change in case marking from a dative subject to an accusative subject is not well attested. The following examination explores instances in which Dative Subject Constructions in Old High German experience Accusative Sickness in Middle High German. That is, they start occurring with an accusative argument instead of the earlier, historically correct, dative.

Abstract

Germanic languages that retain case marking and oblique subjects may undergo a change in argument structure over time. Nominative Sickness in Germanic has been demonstrated by Eythórsson (2002) and Barðdal (2009, 2011) for verbal arguments in which obliques are replaced with the nominative. Additionally, formerly accusative subjects become dative, a process widely referred to as Dative Sickness or Dative Substitution in the international literature. Dative Sickness is found across the development of several Germanic Languages (Barðdal 2011; Dunn et al. 2017). However, a change in case marking from a dative subject to an accusative subject is not well attested. The following examination explores instances in which Dative Subject Constructions in Old High German experience Accusative Sickness in Middle High German. That is, they start occurring with an accusative argument instead of the earlier, historically correct, dative.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Areal/geneological investigations
  5. Chapter 2. Non-nominative and depersonalized subjects in the Balkans 23
  6. Chapter 3. Affective constructions in Tsezic languages 55
  7. Part II. Synchronic investigations
  8. Chapter 4. A macrorole approach to dative subjects 85
  9. Chapter 5. Dative case and oblique subjects 115
  10. Part III. Diachronic investigations
  11. Chapter 6. Word order as a subject test in Old Icelandic 135
  12. Chapter 7. The diachrony of non-canonical subjects in Northwest Semitic 155
  13. Chapter 8. Case marking of predicative possession in Vedic 181
  14. Chapter 9. Accusative sickness? 213
  15. Afterword
  16. Chapter 10. Forty years in the search of a/the subject 241
  17. Chapter 11. What is a subject 257
  18. Language index 275
  19. Subject Index 277
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.200.09dew

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Areal/geneological investigations
  5. Chapter 2. Non-nominative and depersonalized subjects in the Balkans 23
  6. Chapter 3. Affective constructions in Tsezic languages 55
  7. Part II. Synchronic investigations
  8. Chapter 4. A macrorole approach to dative subjects 85
  9. Chapter 5. Dative case and oblique subjects 115
  10. Part III. Diachronic investigations
  11. Chapter 6. Word order as a subject test in Old Icelandic 135
  12. Chapter 7. The diachrony of non-canonical subjects in Northwest Semitic 155
  13. Chapter 8. Case marking of predicative possession in Vedic 181
  14. Chapter 9. Accusative sickness? 213
  15. Afterword
  16. Chapter 10. Forty years in the search of a/the subject 241
  17. Chapter 11. What is a subject 257
  18. Language index 275
  19. Subject Index 277
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