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
>