Re: Universals

> Date:         Sat, 16 Sep 2000 00:08:47 -0400
> From:         Nik <fortytwo@...>
> Muke Tever wrote:
> > I don't know of a natlang example, but my Daimyo has discontinous suffixes,
>
> Old English ge- ... -en (past participle) was one.  I think Modern
> German does the same?  Modern English has something similar with the
> progressive be ... -ing, not quite the same, but same idea.
Well, perhaps Old English had a stage where ge- could only occur with
the past participle (i.e., it had been lost in all other positions).
But historically, as still in Modern German, the ge- morpheme could
occur elsewhere --- and even in OE, I don't think it occurred with
participles of verbs in be-, like become.

I wouldn't talk about a discontinous affix, but rather a prefix and a
suffix with almost mandatory co-occurrence. But that's just me.

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