Re: OT: Corpses, etc. (was: Re: Gender in conlangs (was: Re: Umlauts (was Re: Elves and Ill Bethisad)))

Andreas Johansson scripsit:

> BTW, this is, in my 'lect, pretty much the only place outside of pronouns
> where the three n-genders differ. I'm still waiting for a good explanation
> away of that masculine -e from those who want to describe Swedish as having
> only two genders ("t" and "n").
Okay, so they're relic forms.  Languages are full of these ("grammars leak",
as Sapir said): in English, there is case, which exists only in pronouns;
and the subjunctive, which is distinct only in one verb (guess which one).

--
Verbogeny is one of the pleasurettes    John Cowan <jcowan@...>
of a creatific thinkerizer.             http://www.reutershealth.com
   -- Peter da Silva                    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan

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