Cognate object: Difference between revisions

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In [[linguistics]], a '''cognate object''' (oralso known as a '''cognate accusative''' or an '''internal accusative'''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Accusative Case {{!}} Department of Classics |url=https://classics.osu.edu/Undergraduate-Studies/Latin-Program/Grammar/Cases/accusative-case |access-date=2024-05-21 |website=classics.osu.edu}}</ref>) is a [[verb]]'s [[object (grammar)|object]] thatwhich is etymologically related to the verb. More specifically, the verb is one that is ordinarily [[intransitive]] (lacking any object), and the cognate object is simply the verb's [[noun]] form. For example, in the sentence ''He slept a troubled sleep'', ''sleep'' is the cognate object of the verb ''slept''. This construction also has a passive form. The passive is ''A troubled sleep was slept by him.'' Cognate objects exist in many languages, including various unrelated ones;, forincluding example,<ref>[http://www.linguistlist.org/issues/9/9-1757.html[Ancient Linguist listGreek]</ref> they exist in], [[Arabic language|Arabic]], [[Chichewa language|Chichewa]], [[GermanEnglish language|GermanEnglish]], [[AncientGerman Greeklanguage|German]],<ref>[[Herbert Weir Smyth]]. ''A Greek grammar for colleges''. page 355, section 1563: cognate accusative</ref> [[Hebrew]], [[Icelandic language|HebrewIcelandic]], [[IcelandicJapanese language|IcelandicJapanese]], [[Korean language|Korean]], [[Latin]],<ref>Joseph Henry Allen, [[James B. Greenough|James Bradstreet Greenough]]. ''New Latin grammar for schools and colleges''. p. 243, section 390: cognate accusative.</ref> and [[Russian language|Russian]].<ref>[https://linguistlist.org/issues/9/9-1757/ Linguist list]</ref>

==Examples==

In English, the construction can occur with a number of intransitive verbs, which then become transitive:

*''He slept a troubled sleep.'' (i.e., He slept, and his sleep was troubled.)

*''He laughed a bitter laugh.'' (i.e., He laughed bitterly.)

*''He dreamed a strange dream.'' (i.e., He dreamed, and his dream was strange.)

*''He walked their walk and talked their talk.'' (i.e., He walked and talked as they did.)

*''He smiled a charming smile.'' (i.e., He smiled, and his smile was charming.)

*''He danced a cheerful dance.'' (i.e., He danced, and his dance was cheerful.)

*''He died a painful death.'' (i.e., He died painfully.)

In some of these cases, the cognate object allows for a simpler construction. In others, it may simply be chosen for [[idiom]]atic or [[rhetoric]]al reasons. In general, the cognate object's modifiers are in some sense modifying the verb: for example, ''He slept a troubled sleep'' tells how he slept. Semantically, many of these verbs denote modes of nonverbal expression (laugh, smile) and bodily actions or motions (dance, walk, sleep), specifically including what Levin calls "waltz verbs," those that are [[Conversionconversion %28linguistics%29(word formation)#Verbification|zero-related]] (i.e., identical) to the names of dances. <ref>{{cite book

===English===

In English, the construction can occur with a number of intransitive verbs:

*''He slept a troubled sleep.'' (i.e., He slept, and his sleep was troubled.)

*''He laughed a bitter laugh.'' (i.e., He laughed bitterly.)

*''He died a painful death.'' (i.e., He died painfully.)

*''He dreamed a strange dream.'' (i.e., He dreamed, and his dream was strange.)

** (Note: This seems to be the only example that has a more natural-sounding sentence that would be used in everyday conversation, i.e., ''"He had a strange dream."'')

*''He walked their walk and talked their talk.'' (i.e., He walked and talked as they did.)

*''He smiled a charming smile.'' (i.e., He smiled, and his smile was charming.)

*''He danced a cheerful dance.'' (i.e., He danced, and his dance was cheerful.)

In some of these cases, the cognate object allows for a simpler construction. In others, it may simply be chosen for [[idiom]]atic or [[rhetoric]]al reasons. In general, the cognate object's modifiers are in some sense modifying the verb: for example, ''He slept a troubled sleep'' tells how he slept. Semantically, many of these verbs denote modes of nonverbal expression (laugh, smile) and bodily actions or motions (dance, walk, sleep), specifically including what Levin calls "waltz verbs," those that are [[Conversion %28linguistics%29#Verbification|zero-related]] (i.e., identical) to the names of dances. <ref>{{cite book

| last = Levin

| first = Beth

| title = English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation

| year = 1993

| url = https://archive.org/details/englishverbclass00levi_914

| url-access = limited

| publisher = The University of Chicago Press

| ___location = Chicago and London

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/englishverbclass00levi_914/page/n112 95]–6

| pages = 95-6

}}</ref>

==See also==

* [[Antanaclasis]]

*[[Pleonasm]] (the use of more words than necessary to express an idea)

* [[Figura etymologica]]

*[[Polyptoton]] (a stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated)

* [[Hendiadys]]

* [[Legal doublet]]

* [[Merism]]

* [[Pleonasm]] (the use of more words than necessary to express an idea)

* [[Polyptoton]] (a stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated)

==References==

{{reflistReflist|20em}}

{{Wiktionary|cognate accusative}}

[[Category:Grammar]]

[[fr:Complément d'objet interne]]

[[ko:동족 목적어]]

[[nl:Cognaat object]]

[[ja:同族目的語]]