Re: Question about Questions
From: | John Cowan <jcowan@...> |
Date: | Monday, September 17, 2001, 15:00 |
Christophe Grandsire scripsit:
> En réponse a Michael Poxon <m.poxon@...>:
>>I read somewhere in a linguistics book a few years back how the French
>>a-t-il? construction was observed to be reinterpreted as phonetically
>>/ti:/
>
> I wonder what dialect of French you're talking about.
I think he is referring to the overextension of "-t-il" to places
where it historically was not grammatical, as follows:
Dans l'interrogation [...] la langue familière a créé une
particule *ti* ou *til*, du genre: "Tu viens-ti?" ou encore
"Qui c'est-(t)il?"
But hey, what can you expect from a language that 1) tells us
that what is not clear is not French, and 2) uses "la belle age"
for youth but "une belle age" for old age? :-)
--
Not to perambulate || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
the corridors || http://www.reutershealth.com
during the hours of repose || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
in the boots of ascension. \\ Sign in Austrian ski-resort hotel
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