Re: Diving In...

 >Inuktitut also has the useful feature of a "null" base pi- used to affix =
 >post-bases to. It has no meaning in and of itself, it just serves to =
 >attach post-bases to, when they aren't included in the main word or are =
 >used by themselves as the relevant feature of a word, especially in =
 >answering questions.
 >
 >  a.. Pialuujuq.  "It is big."=20

        *Whew*

        A few years ago I finally bought that West Greenlandic grammar
you find all over the US in used book stores.  This had a pronounced
effect on Vaior (http://www.execpc.com/~wsannis/vaior/) which also
likes to pile on the suffixes.

        I realized, though, that sometimes I wanted to use the
suffixed meanings without an root, so I invented a "null" base (in
vaior AS-) to hang this stuff off.  I was never sure if this occured
in a natlang.  I'm happy to see that it does.

        It's always satisfying -- and a little spooky -- to discover
that some oddity I invented in a language has a parallel in the
natlang world. :)

--
William Annis  -  System Administrator -  Biomedical Computing Group
"When men are inhuman, take care not to feel towards them as they do
towards other humans."                       Marcus Aurelius  VII.65

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