Pronoun – Nominative, accusative (1s)

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The significance of the animacy as a feature of arguments
• The first accenting rule for enclitics
• The morphology of nom and acc 1s pronouns

VocabularyVocabulary

Table 18 (continued)

NoteVerbs and arguments (animacy)

To introduce the idea of an argument, we originally looked at τύπτει τήν where the article signals that the verb requires another noun in accusative case. The verb σῴζω is taught as σῴζω σε, which means to save someone, usually from danger. The second person pronoun σε ‘you’ is used to signal that the argument of the verb is necessarily animate. Inanimate objects are not normally saved or rescued. Second person marks animate arguments, since an addressee must always be animate. Although a precise characterization is not as simple as it may seem, the category of animacy is normally equivalent to a person or animal.

PhonologyPhonology: Enclitics

Like proclitics (see 1.2.3), enclitics are also normally unaccented. Whereas proclitics are counted as part of the next word in terms of their accenting, enclitics are counted as part of the previous word:

• (3) ἡ ἀδελφὴ τύπτει με
• The sister is hitting me

In (3), με does not have its own accent. Enclitics are accented occasionally, and sometimes they change the accenting of the previous word. Enclitic rules are complex, and they are introduced gradually (see Phonology A for a summary). In this lesson, all you need to know is that the enclitics με and σε do not have their own accents.

GrammarGrammar Topic: Pronoun – Nominative, accusative (1s)

In 1.1.4, we defined case as a marking on a noun that gives its function in the sentence. Cases can also be found on pronouns (abbreviated pro), in addition to nouns. In fact, a language like English used to mark case on nouns, but now, it only marks the case on some of the pronouns, e.g. I (subject) vs. me (object). Since I is used to mark the speaker as the subject, it is nominative case, and since me is used to mark the speaker as the object, it is accusative case:

• (4) Ἐγὼ τύπτω τὸν ἄνθρωπον
• I am hitting the man
• (5) Ὁ ἄνθρωπος τύπτει με
• The man is hitting me

In (4), the 1s pronoun ἐγώ is in nominative case, so the speaker is the subject of the verb. In contrast, (5) has the 1s pronoun με in accusative case, so the speaker is the object of the verb.

MorphologyMorphology: Pronoun – Nominative, accusative (1s)

• The English word ego comes from ἐγώ ‘I’.
• με is an enclitic.