The alternating predicate puzzle

Abstract

AbstractA long-standing divide between Icelandic and German in the literature takes for granted that there are non-nominative subjects in Icelandic, while corresponding arguments in German have been analyzed as objects (Zaenen et al. 1985;Sigurðsson 1989). This is based on two differences between these languages: (a) differences with regard to control and conjunction reduction and (b) apparent subject behavior of the nominative indat-nomconstructions in German. This article focuses on the latter, introducing into the discussion the concept of alternating predicates, that is,dat-nompredicates that systematically alternate between two diametrically-opposed argument structure constructions,dat-nomandnom-dat. A comparison between Icelandic and German shows that Icelandicdat-nompredicates are of two types, a non-alternatinglíkatype and an alternatingfalla í geðtype, whereas German seems to exhibit only the alternating type. On this assumption, the apparent subject behavior of the nominative in German is easily explained, since such occurrences in fact involve thenom-datconstruction and not thedat-nomconstruction. Therefore, the subject behavior of the nominative innom-datconstructions does not invalidate a subject analysis of the dative indat-nomconstructions in German. The analysis is couched in the framework of construction grammar.