Re: NATLANG: Russkii morphology (was: "Each Other")

Hello,

> <<This should really be another topic, but those examples
> made me suddenly curious about Russkii morphology.  I take it
> that the -s' in "ja uchus' - I'm learning" is a suffix; what
> does it mean?>>
>
> No, it is not. _-s'_ is a reflexive particle, traditionally
> written together with the verb (or verbal) that it modifies.
Well, actually in modern Russian it is really is, to all intents and
purposes, a suffix. Historicallu it is of course a particle, but now it
is firmyl fixed where it is - can't be separated from the verb, can't be
moved around like Polish sie,, not even like Lithuanian -si, which is a
suffix in non-prefixed verbs and an infix in prefixed ones.

> Reflexive verbs have rather wide range of meanings. They may
> be express reflexive, passive or medial (as here) meanings.
Generally, -sy(a) is a general means of detransitivization (there is
only one transitive verb in -sy(a), and it used to be intransitive until
a rather short time ago - slushatsya 'obey'). Thus, it covers passive,
decausative, reciprocal, reflexive etc.

> <<I know that -u is the 1st person singular suffix (from PIE -o:).>>
Well, it is quite unclear where the Slavic *-o~ comes from. I have seen
hypotheses like *-om, with syllabic _m_, which yiels -*omm > *-o~m
through emergence of nasal vowels and then > *-o~ via loss of final
consonants.

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad               pavel_iosad@mail.ru

Nid byd, byd heb wybodaeth
                 --Welsh saying

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