To be an oblique subject: Russian vs. Icelandic.

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of whether ‘mainclause infinitival datives’ in Russian should be analyzed as oblique or ‘quirky’ subjects, in contrast to another type of subject-like datives in Russian, ‘I-nominals’. In particular, it examines a claim to this effect made by Moore and Perlmutter (2000). By comparing the datives in question to Icelandic oblique subjects, above all with respect to agreement, the paper demonstrates that Moore and Perlmutter's arguments are untenable, i.e. their arguments do not distinguish between the two dative types in the way they claim. However, it does not follow that Russian infinitival datives are best analyzed as ‘non-subjects’. Rather, it is argued, the interesting question raised by subject-like non-nominatives across languages is not whether they should be classified as subjects by some postulated standards, but what they tell us about the interaction of case and other features or properties of language, in particular sentence structure and agreement. The concluding section of the paper presents evidence that Russian I-nominals differ from Icelandic quirky subjects in not entering into a ‘quirky null-agreement’ correlation with the finite complex of the clause. In contrast, it is pointed out, Russian infinitival datives could and probably should be analyzed as sharing this peculiar property with Icelandic ‘quirks’.