Re: verbs = nouns?

H. S. Teoh wrote:

>On Tue, Jan 09, 2001 at 05:58:02PM -0500, DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
>[snip]
> > But if hong2 is only an adjective with no verbiness, how, then, can the
> > perfective particle "le" be added to it? Isn't "le" a verbal suffix? I
> think
> > the point here is that, unlike in IE langs, adjectives behave more like
> > verbs than like nouns.
>
>Oh? I thought "le" simply marks the completion of something, the arrival
>at a particular state. When applied to verbs, it marks perfective aspect;
>when applied to adjectives, it marks the acquisition of the adjectival
>property.
Doesn't acquisition of a property seem verb-like to you? That seems to be
similar to what happens with English
"became".

The crucial question is whether "le" can be used with nouns? I don't know
any Mandarin, but would it be possible to say the equivalent of "I student
le."? If not, then "adjectives" pattern with verbs rather than nouns,
suggesting that they are a subclass of verb.

Marcus


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Marcus Smith
AIM:  Anaakoot
"When you lose a language, it's like
dropping a bomb on a museum."
   -- Kenneth Hale
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