Subject of Subordinate Clause as Object with Verbs of Perception, Thought, and Communication in Old Russian

Abstract

This paper describes the Old Russian construction involving verbs of perception, thought, and communication. In this construction, a single semantic argument corresponds to two syntactic constituents: a direct object and a finite subordinate clause, the subject of which is coreferential with the direct object of the main clause. The Old Russian construction is seen as an instantiation of a cross-linguistic option in the argument structure of these verbs (above all, of the perception verbs), that is, to take the subject of the subordinate clause as the direct object.