The partitive A: On uses of the Finnish partitive subject in transitive clauses

Abstract

<p>Finnish existential clauses are known for the case marking of their S arguments, which<br />alternates between the nominative and the partitive. Existential S arguments introduce a<br />discourse-new referent, and, if headed by a mass noun or a plural form, are marked with the<br />partitive case that indicates non-exhaustive quantification (as in ‘There is some coffee in the<br />cup’). In the literature it has often been observed that the partitive is occasionally used even<br />in transitive clauses to mark the A argument. In this work I analyze a hand-picked set of<br />examples to explore this partitive A. I argue that the partitive A phrase often has an animate<br />referent; that it is most felicitous in low-transitivity expressions where the O argument<br />is likewise in the partitive (to indicate non-culminating aspect); that a partitive A phrase<br />typically follows the verb, is in the plural and is typically modified by a quantifier (‘many’, ‘a<br />lot of’). I then argue that the pervasiveness of quantifying expressions in partitive A phrases<br />reflects a structural analogy with (pseudo)partitive constructions where a nominative head<br />is followed by a partitive modifier (e.g. ‘a group of students’). Such analogies may be relevant<br />in permitting the A function to be fulfilled by many kinds of quantifier + partitive NPs.<br /></p>