Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2002, Page 68

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QUIRKY CASE IN FAROESE
or uncover, if there is any connection be-
tween thematic roles and the changes tak-
ing place.
The paper is organized as follows. In sec-
tion 2 we look into ASC and the changes
that have occurred in these constructions
(Change from Accusative to Dative). We
then have a short comparison with Ice-
Iandic, just to complete the picture (Com-
paring Faroese with lcelandic and Summa-
rizing the Data). In section three we turn to
DSC and consider these constructions in
the light of the meaning of the verbs and the
thematic nature of the subject, while we
have some few concluding remarks in sec-
tion four.
Accusative Subject Constructions
Faroese does not have Accusative Subject
Constructions like the Icelandic example in
(6) below:
(6) Trollkonuna dagaði uppi (Icl.)
the giantess-acc. dawned-3sg. up
‘The giantess was caught by the day-
light’
Some verbs allow ASC, but these construc-
tions are archaic, as pointed out. (7) is from
Viderø’s and Dahl’s Bible translation. Note
that the subject is always in nominative in
colloquial Faroese, that is: eg droymdi (Lit.:
I-nom. dreamt ‘I dreamt’).
(7) Eisini meg droymdi dreym
also me-acc. dreamt a dream-acc.
‘I also had a dream’ (lGen40,16)
jects with the pronoun meg ‘me’.
(8) a. Meg fýsir ikki at hava hana
me-acc. like-3sg. not to have her
‘I do not want her’ (5 Gen 25,8)
b. alt, meg gremur er, at bestu árini eru
farin
all me-acc. grieves-3sg. is that best
years are gone
‘What I grieve most is that the best
years have gone’ (FD)5
c. meg grunar
me-acc. suspects-3sg.
‘I suspect...’ (DD)
d. meg harinar
me-acc. grieves-3sg.
‘I regret...’
e. minnist meg rætt
remember-refl me-acc. correctly
‘If I remember correct’
f. meg órar ikki, at...
me-acc. suspects-3sg. not that...
‘I did not suspect that...’
g. meg nøtrar í holdið
me-acc. shudders-3sg. in flesh-the-
acc.
‘I am shuddering’ (DD, FD)
h. meg skríður í el. um feginsbrúgv
me-scratches-3sg. in (or around) left
eyebrow-acc.6 (FD)
The examples in (8) show accusative sub- A nominative subject is ruled out with the