Re: THEORY: Re : THEORY: Natural language change (was Re: Charlie and I)

Charles wrote:

> Thomas R. Wier wrote:
>
> > > > > "the guy who i usedta date his sister comma is angry now"
> > > > >          ^^^ ............. ^^^ ...... ^^^^^
> > > > >
> > > > > This is illegal in American, we use something more complicated.
> Please read the section on relative clauses in:
>
> http://www.srv.net/~ram/syntax.html
>
> ... particulary noting how in English the "gap"
> construction is preferred, and how inflexible and
> ambiguous it can be in comparison to Farsi,
> which was my original comparison. Sheesh.
Yes, I know about that -- but go back and read what
I said in my post.  I said that the sentence *could* be
grammatical, if you think of it as an example of
topicalization.

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Tom Wier <artabanos@...>
ICQ#: 4315704   AIM: Deuterotom
Website: <http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."

Denn wo Begriffe fehlen,
Da stellt ein Wort zur rechten Zeit sich ein.
   -- Mephistopheles, in Goethe's _Faust_
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