Reflexive (was: Yiddish Reflexive, etcetera)

On Wed, 13 Sep 2000, Steg Belsky wrote:

> What i learned is that _zix_ is *the* reflexive pronoun in Yiddish, used
> for all persons:
>
> ix lern zix
> du lernst zix
> er / zi / es lernt zix
> mir lernen zix
> ir lernt zix
> zei lernen zix
Valdyan, too, has only the one reflexive pronoun _le_; in fact it's a
pronoun meaning "this object is the same as the subject of the main
clause", so it's reflexive if it's also the object of the main
clause, otherwise resumptive.

Examples: cyla - to wash (someone)
          le cyla - to wash (oneself)

Rava le cylat - Rava washes herself

Rava nutea cylat - Rava washes the child

nute lea Rava le cylat - the child that Rava washes
(_lea_ is the relative pronoun for animates)

but:

nute lea le cylat - the child who washes him/herself
(the subject of _cylat_ can only be _lea_, which refers back to
_nute_)

   Irina

--
           Varsinen an laynynay, saraz no arlet rastynay.
irina@valdyas.org (myself)     http://www.valdyas.org/irina/valdyas