Re: THEORY: unergative

Doug Dee wrote:

>In a message dated 2/22/2004 2:57:08 AM Eastern Standard Time,
>herodote92@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
>
>
>>2/ But there are languages, like Basque, various
>>Caucasian langs and others, using another way :
>>By-me shot the sheriff
>>*me* being in ergative case, and *the sheriff* in
>>absolutive
>>What conception does such a form reflect ? I think I
>>understand it as : "There was some sheriff-shooting,
>>and that was done by me". Maybe I'm wrong ?
>>
>>
>
>I think it's potentially misleading to use the term "conception" here.  There
>is no reason to believe that Basque speakers "conceive" of the proposition "I
>shot the sherriff" any differently than English speakers do.  Their grammar
>just marks things differently.
>
>
>
Well, if the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is correct, they do concieve it
differently.  Not that I'm saying it is.  But it's a possibility.

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