Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 01.01.2002, Page 76

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Joan Maling
Sentence (80c) with accusative on the theme is acceptable even for
speakers who generally prefer dative. Jóhannes Gísli Jónsson (p.c.)
suggests that the case marking probably reflects the interpretation
rather than a true idiolectal difference. Put differently, if you are
(re)moving some substance from one location to another, then the
object must be marked dative. This contrast shows up nicely with the
object skafl ‘snow drift’; in (8lb) where the snow drift stays put, the
object is marked accusative:
(81)a. Peir mokuðu skaflinum burt.
they shoveled snow-drift-the(D) away
b. Þeir mokuðu skaflinn.
they shoveled/dug through snow-drift-the(A)
4.5.2 Subclasses of objects undergoing movement
It may be useful to distinguish several subclasses of objects undergo-
ing movement (see Levin 1993 on English spray-load altemations).
One class is verbs of scattering, spreading and the like:
(82) Verbs meaning scatter, spread, smear, spray, shatter:
dreifa ‘scatter’, rjóða ‘spray’, sá ‘sow’, smyrja ‘smear’, splundra
‘shatter’, sprauta ‘spray’, strá ‘strew, scatter’, sundra ‘scatter’,
tvístra ‘scatter’
These verbs can show dative/accusative altemations of the kind illus-
trated above:
(83) Dative object undergoing movement:
smyrja smjörinu á brauðið
‘spread the butter on the bread’
sprauta rauðu lakki á bílinn
‘spray red paint on the car’
Accusative object:
smyrja brauðið
‘spread the bread [with butter]’
sprauta bílinn með rauðu lakki
‘spray the car with red paint’
Another definable class of verbs has to do with loading and unload-
ing:
(84) Verbs of loading and unloading:
ferma Toad’, afferma ‘unload’, hlaða Toad’, umhlaða ‘restack,
repack’