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Concept
Exceptional case-marking
Summary
Exceptional case-marking (ECM), in linguistics, is a phenomenon in which the subject of an embedded infinitival verb seems to appear in a superordinate clause and, if it is a pronoun, is unexpectedly marked with object case morphology (him not he, her not she, etc.). The unexpected object case morphology is deemed "exceptional". The term ECM itself was coined in the Government and Binding grammar framework although the phenomenon is closely related to the accusativus cum infinitivo constructions of Latin. ECM-constructions are also studied within the context of raising. The verbs that license ECM are known as raising-to-object verbs. Many languages lack ECM-predicates, and even in English, the number of ECM-verbs is small. The structural analysis of ECM-constructions varies in part according to whether one pursues a relatively flat structure or a more layered one.
The ECM-construction is licensed by a relatively small number of verbs in English (e.g., believe, judge, prove, want, let, etc.):
Tim believes him to be innocent. – Exceptional case-marking of the object/subject him.
We judge them to be ridiculous. – Exceptional case-marking of the object/subject them.
The prosecutor proved her to be guilty. – Exceptional case-marking of the object/subject her.
They want us to be respectful. – Exceptional case-marking of the object/subject us.
The strings in bold are the ECM-constructions. The pronouns are marked with object case morphology, but they function semantically as the subjects of the infinitival verbs to their right, i.e., they acquire their theta roles from the verb to their right. Many ECM-verbs allow the same meaning to be expressed with a full object clause (a finite clause), e.g.:
Tom believes that he is innocent. – ECM-construction alternates with full clause.
The prosecutor proved that she is guilty. – ECM-construction alternates with full clause.
They want that we are respectful. – ECM-construction alternates with full clause.
Since the meaning across these clauses remains consistent, one tendency has been to view the ECM-material (i.
Official source
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