TA verbs with inanimate actor
Can the actor of a TA verb be grammatically inanimate?
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- Miami-Illinois: yes
- Shawnee: yes
- Menominee: yes
- Southwestern Ojibwe: yes
- Odawa: yes
- Nishnaabemwin: yes
- Northern Algonquin: yes
- Plains Cree: yes
- Swampy Cree: yes
- Moose Cree: yes
- Atikamekw: yes
- Southern East Cree: not provided in paradigms
- Northern East Cree: not provided in paradigms
- Sheshatshiu Innu: unknown/unclear (Charts don't specify numbering for inanimate)
- Mi'kmaq: yes
- Maliseet-Passamaquoddy: unknown/unclear (Charts don't specify numbering for inanimate.)
- Massachusett: yes
- Cheyenne: yes
- Blackfoot: unknown/unclear (Actors of TA verbs cannot be semantically inanimate; "knife" is an animate noun but can't be the actor of a TA. However, Frantz does note that some speakers allow for inanimate actors if the object is the experiencer (e.g. "it frightens him").)