Yes, David, I would say ‘dative’ realises Time and ‘accusative’ Duration. Prep phrases are not necessarily used for Marked Themes; they often realise specific relations in time, e.g. ‘before…’, ‘after…’, ‘within…’, ‘during…’ etc. And very often prep phrases with on (+ nom gp in the dative) are used for Time as well, e.g. on þissum geare ‘in this year’.
Indeed the ‘accusative’ and ‘dative’ here have nothing to do with direct and indirect objects. They are there to remind us of the morpheme-centric perspective inherited from Greek/Latin traditions ;-)
Pin
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thursday, 8 February 2024 at 6:26 am
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Thanks Pin
Consistent with the Latin comparison, would you say ‘dative’ eall-um dag-um realises Time and ‘accusative’ eal-ne þo-ne winter realises Duration?
And do prep phrases tend to be used for marked Themes?
I often find case labels confusing. They postulate generalised functions from the forms of morphemes, which can conflict with group and clause rank functions.
For example, ‘accusative’ implies a ‘direct object’ function in transitive clauses, and ‘dative’ implies an ‘indirect object’ function. But the suffixes in your examples mean nothing of the kind.
I find it easier to understand a language by first looking for functions of groups in each clause of a text. The roles of nominal inflections then become apparent, and can be glossed with English grammatical items, instead of Latinate case names. Ditto for verbal inflections E.g.
eall | -um | dag | -um |
all | at.pl | day | at.pl |
‘in all days’
Time
eal | -ne | þo | -ne | winter |
all | for | the | for | winter |
‘for all the winter’
Duration
But getting this accepted would be like trying to get the Latin Bible translated into English ;-)
David
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Pin Wang <wangpin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 10:56 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Hi David,
Here’s an example with accusative time:
Her gewende Cnut cyng to Denemearcon, and ðær wunode ealne þone winter.
‘Here (this year) King Cnut returned to Denmark, and there he stayed all the winter.’
(Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Year 1019, my own tentative translation)
OE uses prepositional phrases too, like in the famous opening line of Beowulf:
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum…
‘in days of yore’
And
on dæge and æfter dæge
’in (his) day and after (his) day’
More often the accusative realises duration (like the Latin ‘accusative of duration of time’); the dative is comparable, I think, to the Latin ‘ablative of time when’ or ‘ablative of time within which’.
Pin
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 7:12 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Thanks Pin! Very perceptive analysis of ‘the problem’
So ago has drifted towards away, but not all the way ;-)
And this is why I asked Rosemary for OE examples...
>on geswyncum ðu etst of ðære eorðan eallum dagum ðines lifes
>‘in pain you shall eat of the earth all the days of your life’
>Eallum dagum ‘all days’ is in plural dative.
So OE nom gp+dative becomes a prep phr in modern English ‘for all the days [[of your life]]’
Both realising Duration
I’d be interested to see ‘accusative’ time too
David
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Pin Wang <wangpin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 9:21 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Dear colleagues,
Thanks very much for the interesting discussion.
I agree with David on this one. From above, a Qualifier serves to identify an entity, answering which Thing is being talked about.
E.g.
- Which children?
- The children [in blue hats].
But not:
- Which years?
- Some 4,600 years [ago].
So not a nominal group, but an adverbial group. The problem may have arisen from the incomplete proportionality in Modern English:
(*ago) : long ago : some 4,600 years ago ::
away: far away: about 4,600 miles away
In Old English, as Rosemary pointed out, Circumstances of Location in time can be realised by case-inflected nominal groups.
E.g.
on geswyncum ðu etst of ðære eorðan eallum dagum ðines lifes
‘in pain you shall eat of the earth all the days of your life’ (Genesis 3:17)
Eallum dagum ‘all days’ is in plural dative.
Pin
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 5:01 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Quite understandable; I can be clumsy... much better to let Michael define the Qualifier function than me...
Like the other, ‘ranking’ (i.e. non-embedded) elements of the nominal group, the Qualifier
also has the function of characterizing the Thing; and again the Deictic the serves to signal
that the characteristic in question is defining. But the characterization here is in terms of
some process within which the Thing is, directly or indirectly, a participant. It may be a
major process – that is, a clause, finite or non-finite; or a minor process – a prepositional
phrase (see Section 6.5). Figure 6-3 exemplifies these three variants.
David
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Rosemary Huisman <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 7:36 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one.
I genuinely don't follow your understanding of "ago" (= past) as not qualifying years. It is an anomalous little word, having begun its life rank-shifted (a past-participle of a verb, an implicit reduced non-finite clause).
R.
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 7:20 PM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Many thanks Rosemary
That answers my original question. It’s so helpful to talk these things through
You can still hear MAKH’s 1985 IFG wording here (emphases his)...
6.2.2.2 Qualifier
What of the element which follows the Thing? The original example, Look at those two splendid old electric trains with pantographs, ended with the phrase with pantographs; this also is part of the nominal group, having a function we shall refer to as Qualifier.
Unlike the elements that precede the Thing, which are words (or sometimes word complexes, like two hundred, very big; see Section 6.3.2), what follows the Thing is either
a phrase or a clause.
.. With only rare exceptions, all Qualifiers are rankshifted.
... Like the other, ‘ranking’ (i.e. non-embedded) elements of the nominal group, the Qualifier
also has the function of characterizing the Thing; and again the Deictic the serves to signal
that the characteristic in question is defining.
In some 4,600 years ago, it’s not the adverb ago that is rankshifted, but the nominal group some 4,600 years.
The adverb ago doesn’t ‘characterize’ or define the Thing years. Rather some 4,600 years specifies ‘how long ago’.
This is brought out by proportionalities like...
how long ago : how far away ::
very long ago : so far away ::
some 4,600 years ago : about 4,600 miles away
thanks again
David
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Rosemary Huisman <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 5:52 pm
To: asflanet@freelistsorg <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Another pennyworth:
Experiential structure
some | 4,600 | years | ago |
Deictic | Numerative | Thing | Qualifier |
determiner | numeral | noun | adverb |
Logical structure
some 4,600 | years | ago | |
Modifier | Head | Postmodifier | |
some | 4,600 |
|
|
gamma | beta | alpha |
|
A surprise to me to see "ago" labelled as "adverb" but I see this labelling is now conventional (used in various dictionaries) so I accept it above.
Etymology: ago - from a Middle English contraction of the past participle of the Old English strong verb agangan = "to come to pass", "to befall".
Note "some" realizes meanings of indefinite plural; compare:
a year ago
some years ago
Rosemary.
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 5:10 PM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Re further research...
Analyses like these are rough and ready...
Here’s a puzzle. Of these b units, which instantiates comparison, intensification or negation?
not | so | very | much | more | easily |
b |
|
|
|
| a |
b |
|
|
| a |
|
b |
| a |
|
|
|
b | a | b | a |
|
|
Fester Bestertester
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 1:59 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Heh heh!
IFG at 30 paces...
Interestingly IFG contains many instances with adverb ago/away as Head and nom gp as Premodifier but doesn't attempt to analyse them, even tho they are so common. Of the three types of adv gp Premodifiers listed, they realise [intensification] metaphorically (perhaps one of Whorf’s SAE cryptotypes). E.g.
This area of grammar is opening up for research e.g
Martin, J. R., Doran, Y. J., & Zhang, D. (2021). Nominal group grammar: System and structure. Word, 67(3), 248-280.
best
Lester Scruggs
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Dr ChRIS CLÉiRIGh <c.cleirigh@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wednesday, 7 February 2024 at 10:27 am
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Dear Scholars,
The following might be helpful to anyone who has difficulty in distinguishing nominal groups from adverbial groups.
Halliday & Matthiessen (2014: 419-22):
The adverbial group has an adverb as Head, which may or may not be accompanied by modifying elements. …
Premodifiers are grammatical items like not and rather and so; there is no lexical premodification in the adverbial group. …
The items serving as Premodifiers are adverbs belonging to one of three types – polarity (not), comparison (more, less; as, so) and intensification. …
Postmodification is of one type only, namely comparison.
ChEeRS,
ChRIS
On Wed, 7 Feb 2024 at 08:25, David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Rosemary
Is it the nom gp serving as Premodifier that makes them look like nom gps?
Here with just adverbs...
Long ago and so far away....
long
ago
and
so
far
away
Time
Place
adv gp
adv gp
b
a
b
a
adv
adv
adv
adv
adv
Here with nom gp as Premodifier
some
4,600
years
ago
Time
adv gp
b
a
nom gp
Num
Thing
b
a
PS
Can you give us some Old English clauses with Time in accusative and dative case?
Many thanks
David
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Rosemary Huisman <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, 6 February 2024 at 10:53 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis onlyHi again - as in my first post - a circumstance of time. It's realized by the nominal group ("some 4,600 years ago"), as is usual for constituents of temporal meaning in the English clause. In Old English, such meanings were typically realized by a nominal group in the accusative case (or occasionally - confused through Latin?- by the dative). Perhaps because of their frequent use such realization without preposition for temporal meanings has persisted into Modern English, whereas other circumstantial meanings are usually realized by a prepositional phrase or adverbial group (as was already becoming established in Old English, ie pre- 1100).
Rosemary.
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Annabelle Lukin <annabelle.lukin@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2024 7:07 PM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Love these messages - what kind of constituent is 'some 4,600 years ago'? I've been debating this with one of my colleagues for a while now,
Cheers
Annabelle
Annabelle Lukin (she, her, hers)
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From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Rose <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, 6 February 2024 6:21 PM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Agreed Shooshi... bit of indeterminacy here between Means and Place
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Shoshana Dreyfus <shooshi@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, 6 February 2024 at 6:07 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis onlyThinking more about this – maybe the last circ isn’t causative. And in fact maybe that’s the point – construe this intransitively so they don’t even have to engage with whether anything caused the earth to form...
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Shoshana Dreyfus <shooshi@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tuesday, 6 February 2024 at 5:46 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
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It’s an interesting way of expressing how things happened, isn’t it? I love these clauses – representing events as if things happened all by themselves (ie intransitively), though the causative bit is there, just relegated to the end of the clause in the circumstance, so yes need both transitivity AND ergativity to understand this one:
The earth
formed
some 4,600 years ago
from a vast cloud of gas and dust
Actor
Process: material
Circ: temp loc
Circ: manner/means
Medium
Process
And probably a look at the periodicity/thematic development of this text would be useful because maybe the writer wants to keep the Theme constant so has structured the clause in this way to do so.
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Rosemary Huisman <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Monday, 5 February 2024 at 8:23 pm
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis onlySensible thoughts, David.
A causative transitivity analysis might be more helpful: "Rocks" is Medium.
Table below is a bit misaligned!
Rosemary
IFG(2014) 52.3
..of ‘material’ clauses.1 The most general contrast is between (i) ‘creative’ clauses, where the Actor or Goal is construed as being brought into existence as the process unfolds, and (ii) ‘transformative’ ones, where a pre-existing Actor or Goal is construed as being transformed as theprocess unfolds: see Figure 5-10. Examples are given in Table 5-4.
Table 5-4 type of doing: ‘creative’/‘transformative’
Creative
Transformative
intransitive
transitive
intransitive
transitive
what happened
Whathappened? –Rocksformed.
Whathappened? –The pressureformed rocks
What happened –The rocksbroke (intosmall pieces)
What happened –The pressure broke therocks (intosmall
pieces).
Whathappened –He ran(away).
What happened
– Shechased him(away).
what happenedto X?
What happenedto
rocks? – Theyformed
Whathappened torocks? –*Thepressureformed hem.
Whathappened tothe rocks? –They broke(into smallpieces).
Whathappened tohe rocks? –The pressurebroke them(into smallpieces).
what did X do
What did thepressure
do? – It formedrocks.
What did thepressure do? – Itbroke the rocks(into pieces).
What did hedo? – He ran(away).
What did shedo?
– Shechased him(away).
what did X do toY?
What did thepressure do torocks? – *Itformed them.
What did thepressure do tothe rocks? – Itbroke them (intopieces)
What did she do to him? – She chasedhim (away).
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of David Banks <david.banks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, 5 February 2024 7:40 PM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Hello Rosemay and Annabelle,
If "formed" is a creative process, and "the earth" is what is created, it can't exist before the process takes place. So it can't be the actor of that process. My memory tells me that somewhere (but I haven't got a refrerence to hand) Halliday talks about an "effected" - the participant created by a process (as opposed to an "affected" - the participant altered by a process). To avoid any confusion, with my (non-anglophone) students I used to use the term "result". I would suggest that "the earth" is effected/result.
All the best,
David
De: "Rosemary Huisman" <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
À: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Envoyé: Lundi 5 Février 2024 07:47:08
Objet: [asflanet] Re: grammar analysis only
Hi Annabelle - an effort:
The earth Actor
formed Creative process, intransitive
some 4,600 years ago circumstance of Location: time
from a vast cloud of gas and dust circumstance of Manner
See IFG(2014)
Table 5-4 on Creative processes
Table 5.28 on Types of circumstantial element.
More cheers,
Rosemary (Huisman).
From: asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf of Annabelle Lukin <annabelle.lukin@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, 5 February 2024 11:55 AM
To: asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <asflanet@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [asflanet] grammar analysis only
Dear colleagues,
I'm keen to hear thoughts on the analysis of this clause:
The earth formed some 4,600 years ago from a vast cloud of gas and dust.
Cheers
Annabelle
Annabelle Lukin (she, her, hers)
Associate Professor LinguisticsDepartment HDR Director
Department of Linguistics
Level 5, 12 Second Way Room 507
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, AustraliaClimate Crisis: the Magnitude of the Challenge
NTEU delegate: Latest news http://www.nteu.org.au/mq/
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