Re: Comments? Applicative and Noun Incorporation

In a message dated 04/13/02 10:28:16 AM, irina@VALDYAS.ORG writes:

<< I'd understand "Don't hair-dry me" as "Don't use the hair dryer on my

hair" and "Don't dry my hair" as either "Leave my hair wet" or "I'll

use the towel myself". >>

    Yeah...  I just said "dry" because "blowdry" is only kind of a verb, but
"blowdry" is what he meant there.

<<or else, why would split-ergative systems exist anyway? :)>>

    See, the reason why I even said anything in the first place is because
the only cases of split-ergativity I've ever heard of in natural languages
(and at least one professor has said that every language that has ergativity
has it in exactly this way and no other) has a nominative/accusative
present/nonpast tense, and an ergative past tense.  It comes about via
extensive use of the passive as the past tense, so you'd say something like,
"It is done by me" to mean "I did it", and pretty soon that passive form
because the normal past, reanalysis happens, and you have a split-ergative
system.  Are there any natural language that display either split-ergativity
in something other than present/past tense, or are completely ergative?

-David

"fawiT, Gug&g, tSagZil-a-Gariz, waj min DidZejsat wazid..."
"Soft, driven, slow and mad, like some new language..."
                    -Jim Morrison

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