Re: Adjectives, Particles, and This ( etc ), and Conjunctions...

H. S. Teoh sikayal:

> [snip]
> > Why "nothing in common"? Compare:
> >
> > I am going to the bedroom. (preposition)
> > I am going to sleep. (particle)
> >
> > The function of "to" is essentially equal in both cases. The infinive with
> > "to" IMHO has the same meaning as dative (allative, illative) of abstract
> > noun derived from verb.
>
> Well, I don't think "to" is equivalent in these two cases. The first case
> functions as a preposition, but the second is almost like an inflectional
> particle bound to the verb -- you can't dissect it from the verb and still
> retain the infinitive meaning. Just IMHO...
Plus, "go to sleep" is an idiomatic expression that can't really be
analyzed on the basis of its grammatical constituents.  A better example
is "I want to sleep," but in that case the "to" is seen more as belonging
to "want" than "sleep", as evidenced by the ellipsis "I want to" and the
colloquial contraction "wanna."

> [snip]
> > >>What uses do particles have?
> > >
> > >Many and various - and the pesky things have a habit of being among the
> > >most useful little words in any language  :)
> >
> > Essentially, particles are prefixes that are not fixed.
>
> In (Attic) Greek, particles are prefixes *and* suffixes *and* a host of
> other things as well. :-) For example, you have prefixes/prepositions such
> as para-, anti-, amphi-, peri-, etc., these can attach to verbs as prefix
> or can be stand-alone as prepositions. Then you have suffixing particles
> such as the indefinite particle _ti_ which sometimes can be used as an
> indefinite article (Greek doesn't formally have indefinite articles) --
> this is suffixed to the word it modifies, so e.g.:
>         he: hodo's      the road
>         hodo's ti       some road (or "a road")
>
> And then, you have the strange post-positive beasts like "men" and "de"
> (correlatives, usually translated as "on the one hand" and "on the other
> hand"), and "gar" (therefore). They are post-positive because they don't
> like to appear as the first word in a sentence (although they can), and
> they like to appear after the word(s) they modify. E.g., to say something
> like "therefore the old woman escaped":
> 1)      he  gar       grau^s    e'phugen.
>         the therefore old_woman escaped.
> OR,
> 2)      he  grau^s    gar       e'phugen.
>         the old_woman therefore escaped.
>
> Although (2) seems more intuitive, (1) appears to be more common, in spite
> of the fact that the post-positive particle "gar" has intruded itself
> between the article "he" and the noun "grau^s" :-)
Actually, if I look at it from a Greek perspective, (1) seems more
intuitive.  Greek doesn't have any qualms about separating its article
froom the noun, and I'd want to have "gar" as close to the front as
possible.

Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
"It is of the new things that men tire--of fashions and proposals and
improvements and change.  It is the old things that startle and
intoxicate.  It is the old things that are young."
-G.K. Chesterton _The Napoleon of Notting Hill_