Re: grammatical cases & semantic roles (was: ergative/accusative)

> That doesn't answer the question.  If "all verbs have a patient", then it
> doesn't matter how you choose to categorize the verbs;  where is the patient
> in those sentences?  If it's implied, then *what* is it?
>
>
Oh, I see now what you mean.  I don't know the answer.  This very same
question came up a couple of years ago on the Klingon list.  The Klingon verb
for
"rain" has never been used with a subject, so we don't know what the subject
of
it is.  There was lots of speculation about what it might be, but nothing but
guesses.

stevo

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