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Re: Ergative and other questions

From:John Cowan <jcowan@...>
Date:Tuesday, November 18, 2003, 18:02
Roger Mills scripsit:

> Hmmph. Clearly a wrong use of the -ee. Sounds like something Walt Whitman > might have invented. O Camerados of the vast Plains!! O Bargees of the > mighty Mississippi!!
Alas, the dictionary says "chiefly Brit."
> I know _mortgagor_ is pronounced with g = [dZ], thus joining _gaol_ as one > of the most counter-intuitive of all Engl. spellings.
I have also seen "mortgageor", though perhaps "mortgagiaour" would be more like it. "Margarine" [mAr\dZr=In] is another such oddity.
> How about obligor/obligee? [g] or [dZ]?
"Obligor" is AC/DC; "obligee" is [dZ].
> However, these reinforce my theory: -or/-er is agentive (ergative), > -ee is patient (absolutive), no?
Indeed. -- John Cowan http://www.ccil.org/~cowan jcowan@reutershealth.com Be yourself. Especially do not feign a working knowledge of RDF where no such knowledge exists. Neither be cynical about RELAX NG; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment in the world of markup, James Clark is as perennial as the grass. --DeXiderata, Sean McGrath

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Costentin Cornomorus <elemtilas@...>