Date: Fri, 23 Jan 1998 11:34:09 -0800

From: Jack Sidnell jsidnell[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UCLA.EDU

Subject: Re: query re _want + (participle) use



I haven't read your analysis in American Speech but in some varieties the

construction is probably not elliptical. In Guyanese Creole you get



di wiil waan ail

the wheel wants oil

"The wheel needs (to be oiled)(oil)."



ii pant waan rob

his pants want rub

"His pants need to be washed."



The desiderative sense of "want" is suspended with inanimate subjects. With

animate subjects such constructions are ambiguous. Thus:



di piknii waan sliip

the child wants sleep

"The child wants to sleep."

"The child needs to sleep."



The senses can be disambiguated by fu.



di piknii waan fu sliip

The child wants to sleep

"The child wants to sleep."



Fu is not acceptable with the nonanimate subjects



*di wiil waan fu ail

*di pant waan fu rob



Hope this helps



Jack Sidnell

UCLA



At 02:18 PM 1/23/98 EST, you wrote:

Dear ADS-L members:



For an article on constructions with elliptical _want + participle_

(e.g. the car wants washed, the car wants washing, the car doesn't want

washed; the infant wants diapered, the infant doesn't want diapered), my

colleague Tom and Murray and I would like to hear from anyone who uses

such a construction or is in an area where such a construction is in

use.



In continuation of our work on elliptical need + p.p. (see Murray,

Frazer, Simon, _American Speech_ winter, 1996), we would also like to

hear from anyone familiar with negative need + past participle

(e.g. the car doesn't need washed, the dogs don't need fed).



Please contact me at

simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cvax.ipfw.indiana.edu

or

simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]ipfw.edu



Thanks,

Beth Simon

Assistant Professor, Linguistics and English

Indiana University Purdue University

simon[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]cvax.ipfw.indiana.edu