I’m done my homework—Case assignment in a stative passive

Linguistic Variation

Authors

Josef Fruehwald

Neil Myler

Published

2015

Doi

10.1075/lv.15.2.01fru

Abstract

We present an analysis of an understudied construction found in Philadelphian and Canadian English, and also in certain Vermont varieties. In this construction, the participle of certain verbs can appear along with a form of the verb be and a DP complement, producing strings like I’m done my homework , I’m finished my fries , and (in Vermont) I’m started the project . We show that the participle in the construction is an adjectival passive, not a perfect construction. We further argue that the internal argument DP in the construction is receiving Case from the adjectival head a , similar to what happens in all English dialects with the adjective worth , and that the internal argument is interpreted via a mechanism of complement coercion. The microparametric variation we find across English dialects with respect to the availability of this construction is accounted for by variation in the selectional restrictions on the a head.

Citation

BibTeX citation:

@article{fruehwald2015,
  author = {Fruehwald, Josef and Myler, Neil},
  title = {I’m Done My {homework—Case} Assignment in a Stative Passive},
  journal = {Linguistic Variation},
  volume = {15},
  number = {2},
  pages = {141-168},
  date = {2015},
  url = {http://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/lv.15.2.01fru},
  doi = {10.1075/lv.15.2.01fru},
  langid = {en},
  abstract = {We present an analysis of an understudied construction
    found in Philadelphian and Canadian English, and also in certain
    Vermont varieties. In this construction, the participle of certain
    verbs can appear along with a form of the verb be and a DP
    complement, producing strings like I’m done my homework , I’m
    finished my fries , and (in Vermont) I’m started the project . We
    show that the participle in the construction is an adjectival
    passive, not a perfect construction. We further argue that the
    internal argument DP in the construction is receiving Case from the
    adjectival head a , similar to what happens in all English dialects
    with the adjective worth , and that the internal argument is
    interpreted via a mechanism of complement coercion. The
    microparametric variation we find across English dialects with
    respect to the availability of this construction is accounted for by
    variation in the selectional restrictions on the a head.}
}

For attribution, please cite this work as:

Fruehwald, Josef, and Neil Myler. 2015. “I’m Done My Homework—Case Assignment in a Stative Passive.” Linguistic Variation 15 (2): 141–68. https://doi.org/10.1075/lv.15.2.01fru.