THEORY: Re : THEORY: Connolly: Interpreting ergative sentences

Dans un courrier dat=E9 du 16/07/99 21:19:39  , Lars a =E9crit :

> So please, caution!  And take due note of what has been discovered
>  about *living* ergative languages.  You can't hope to understand the
>  dead ones without them.
> =20
>  Leo
sumerians did not have camels ;-)
otherwise an interesting summing up of that question.
except - if i may - i still can't get why the
base would be "distributed", which already
implies an active, distributing agent and is still
an IE "passivization" reflex (except if the -ed affix
were meant to refer to the perfect aspect).
the base should be - i humbly think - "to distribute" :

*the camels distribute.
*the fabric tears.
the soup cooks.

mathias

and sumerian has transitive verbs too.