Re: Noun Cases

Maybe some difference like "general cause" vs
"detailed causes" ? My Harrap's says "wherefore" is
archaic and literary, and proposes the following
French translation for "the why and the wherefore":
"le pourquoi et le comment".

--- "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 29, 2004 at 11:54:13AM -0500, Mark J.
> Reed wrote:
> > Indeed.  At least in Okaikiar, which has both, a
> noun in the causastive
> > case answers the question "why?"
>
> Incidentally, I have an extra slot in Okaikiar
> morphology around the causative
> case.  I can make a distinction between "prompted
> by" (cause before the
> action) and "in order to accomplish" (cause after
> the action).  I have
> not made use of this distinction, but I'm aware that
> some sort of
> distinction within the causative exists or has
> existed in other
> languages.  In particular, I believe there used to
> be a technical
> distinction between English "why" and "wherefore",
> but cannot find an
> explication of this distinction online.  The AHD and
> M-W have
> "wherefore" defined as a synonym of "why".  Can
> anyone on here shed some
> light?  Why was Shakespeare's "whys and wherefores"
> not a redundant
> phrase?
>
> -Mark

=====
Philippe Caquant

"Le langage est source de malentendus."
(Antoine de Saint-Exupery)

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