Re: Will

> Date:         Tue, 18 Apr 2000 13:20:24 +0200
> From: BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
> At 21:33 17.4.2000 -0400, Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> >I've read that there's a good deal of controversy over whether the
> >distinction was *ever* that cut-and-dry, or whether that distinction was
> >imposed on "will/shall" by prescriptivists.
>
> Hardly.  It is old *and* alive and well in Danish and Danish-influenced
> Norwegian.
> E.g. _Du vil komme og jeg skal vente_ "You intend to come, and I
> emphatically intend to wait/feel obliged to wait."
While it's very true that Danish 'vil' for intention and 'skal' for
obligation, the situation is not quite that simple. I don't know
exactly what context you imagine for that sentence --- it seems to a
recapitulation of something agreed --- but with the gloss given it
should probably be _Du kommer og jeg #vil/må vente_ in current Danish.
(# shows stress).

_Du vil komme og jeg skal vente_, on the other hand, means "you want
to come, and I must wait", with the implication that both expectations
are based the will of the other person.

I lost the context beyond the two quoted mails, so I don't know if you
are implying that Danish has the '1st person intention = shall'
feature of prescriptivist English. It doesn't. Not my version, anyway.

Lars Mathiesen (U of Copenhagen CS Dep) <thorinn@...> (Humour NOT marked)