Re: Word games!
| From: | Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> |
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| Date: | Saturday, August 25, 2001, 4:27 |
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Roger Mills wrote:
>
> Just a thought: is it possible that words with final /n/ are all ultimately
> of Chinese or at least foreign origin??
No, they originate from nV sequences. Sometimes the alternations still
exists, like anata/anta (two words for "you"). The dialectal -n
negation (which is also used in the standard dialect in the polite
negation -masen) was originally -nu. IIRC, when kana were first
developed, there was no character for the syllabic _n_.
Altho, I think that *most* final /n/'s are of foreign origin.
--
Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon
A nation without a language is a nation without a heart - Welsh proverb
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