Experiencer

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Under a Experiencer (of English. To experience "learned experience, suffer") is meant in the linguistics a plot subscriber within a sentence , which the event represented by the plot is referred to, perceives and feels , z. B. Paul in the sentence Paul listens to music . The experiencer plays a semantic role .

As verbs that require action as participants an experiencer, come in German z. B. before:

  • see, hear ( verbs of perception)
  • know, believe ( cognitive verbs)
  • want to love
  • freeze

Nouns or pronouns that function as experiencers can be marked morphologically very differently. This means that the respective noun phrases (NPs) can appear in different grammatical cases depending on the type of action or property being described . In German, nominative , dative and accusative are possible :

  • I 'm freezing (Nominative)
  • I'm cold (Dative)
  • I'm freezing (it). (Accusative)

In some languages, especially in South Asia, experiencers can adopt properties of the subject even if they do not have a subject case.

The term goes back to the case grammar of Charles J. Fillmore , but is now also used in other linguistic theories. The Latinized form (das) Experiens also occurs.

See also

literature

  • Simon C. Dik (edited by Kees Hengeveld): The theory of Functional Grammar . Part 1: The structure of the clause . 2nd edition Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin a. New York 1997, pp. 115-117.
  • Manindra K. Verma: Experiencer subjects in South Asian languages . Stanford 1991.