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Re: Dropping from the root

From:dirk elzinga <dirk.elzinga@...>
Date:Wednesday, July 18, 2001, 19:57
On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Marcus Smith wrote:

> Dirk Elzinga wrote: > > >On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Marcus Smith wrote: > >I found a Papago example as well: > > > > es. 'is/was planting' (s. is s with an underdot) > > e-i 'planted' > > > >I don't know what the -i is, but is clearly attached to the > >truncated root. Are there any -i's in Pima? > > -i shows up in imperatives. > > According to the Papago dictionary by Saxton, Saxton, and Enos, this verb > is not completely regular. The irregularities in the paradigm are: > [snip]
Hmmm. You mentioned earlier that there is no way to predict whether a verb will truncate by dropping a final consonant or an entire rime. There are also apparently verbs which don't truncate. It already sounds like the system is irregular in much the same way as the strong verbs of English. Perhaps this gives a little more credence to the unnamed morphologist's assertion that truncation isn't productive ... Dirk -- Dirk Elzinga dirk.elzinga@m.cc.utah.edu "The strong craving for a simple formula has been the undoing of linguists." - Edward Sapir

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Marcus Smith <smithma@...>