On the cross-linguistic distribution of same-subject and different-subject 'want' complements: Economic vs. iconic motivation

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a world-wide typological study of same-subject and different-subject complements of the verb ‘want’ (sample size: 80 languages). I am interested in whether the subject is overtly expressed only in different-subject complements (e.g. English, Mandarin Chinese, Coptic) or whether it is expressed also in same-subject complements (e.g. Modern Greek, Mixtec, Arabic, where the literal translation of ‘I want to go home’ is ‘I want that I go home’). Not surprisingly, the more economical English pattern is more widespread in the sample languages. I argue that this pattern should be explained in terms of economic motivation, not in terms of iconic motivation or conceptual closeness (as has also been suggested in the literature). The economic explanation turns out to be more general and to make more accurate predictions.

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