Re: PLUG: SpecGram Current Issue

Dirk wrote:
<<
Some Uto-Aztecan languages show regular suppletion of verb forms based
on the number of the subject for intransitives or for the number of
the object for transitives; it is thus an ergative pattern. Some
examples from Shoshoni: nukki 'run (sg.subj)' ~ nuraa 'run (pl.subj)';
paikka 'kill (sg.obj)' ~ wase 'kill (pl.obj)' . The form alternations
themselves are unpredictable (else it wouldn't be suppletion), but it
is a regular feature of the language (at least for the several dozen
verbs it applies to).
 >>

I believe I heard this example before (possibly when the topic
of systematic suppletion came up before), but I've always wondered:
are not these simply different lexemes?  So for verbs without
these suppletive forms, is there some regular morphological
pattern that takes you from a verb with a singular absolutive
argument to a verb with a plural absolutive argument?  I guess
I'd be imagining something like this:

Regular:
maka "eat (sg. obj.)"
maka-ne "eat (plu. obj.)"
kepo "sleep (sg. sbj.)"
kepo-ne "sleep (plu. sbj.)"

Irregular
nukki/nuraa
paikka/wase

-David
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"A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a."
"No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn."

-Jim Morrison

http://dedalvs.free.fr/

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