Re: USAGE: Survey

Hello, Tom. Thanks for writing.

--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Thomas Wier <trwier@u...> wrote:
> [snip]
> A question arose as to
> whether in English there are any present participles that
> are irregular.  I mentioned the verb "to lightning", which
> in my dialect can only have the participle "lightning",
> not "lightninging".  So which is better:
>
>   (1)  It was lightning out last night.  OR
>   (2)  It was lightninging out last night.
In my dialect "lightning" is not a verb.
Both (1) and (2) would be (considered relatively to my -lect) ungrammatical.
(2) is worst because "lightninging" sounds so bad (to my -lectal ear).
Both are "ungrammatical" because "lightning" is a noun -- "lightning strikes", or
"lightning flashes", not "it lightnings" or "it's lightning".
Both would still be maxim-violating (-lectally) because "out" is unnecessary --
where else would lightning be?
In my life I have only heard "There was lightning last night."

> [snip]
> (Kayne has this rather controversial theory that there are in
> fact only a very limited number of verbs in English, such as
> "do", "make", etc. which are all light verbs.  Anything else
> that looks like a verb is actually a noun which has been
> incorporated with a null light verb.
Furthermore, there is only one liquid -- water.  All others are solutions of something in water.

And, it is possible to show that all "Indo-European" languages, including Sanskrit,
are descended from Dutch. (This last has actually been documented! Show it to
him.)

> I think this is nonsense,
> but nonsense is how you get tenure...)
Am I having tenure yet?

> Also, does anyone happen to know of any language where an
> idiom has significantly different syntax from the rest of
> the language?
"The more the merrier."
"Like father like son."
What the H___ is the syntax of those?

>  Specifically, it would be nice to know, say,
> if there are languages with idioms where the article follows
> the noun rather than preceding it as normal.
Specifically, that, I don't know.

-----

Tom H.C. in MI


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