Philip Newton wrote:
[snip]
>>
>> Would _apó_ be a resonable candidate for AEK, too?
>
> Another thing that came to mind was _ek_, or maybe _pará_ ("by", à la
> Russian possession with _u XXX est'_), or maybe even _epí_ ("on", à la
> Finnish possession with _XXX:lla on_).
There's no Greek precedent for any of these.
BTW the acronym is *EAK* - Ellènikê Áneu Klísi - Greek without (in)flexions.
> I had also wondered whether a fixed/fossilized _tou_ would work -- _to
> tou mètró patró_ "The mother's father". But since there's no
> indefinite article, that wouldn't work as well for indefinite nouns,
> let alone pronouns.
It wouldn't, would it? Also it does perhaps compromised the 'áneu klísi'
bit. Giuseppe Peano might not have minded being compromised, but I will
resist it :)
> The main spanner in the works that comes to mind is adjectives used as
> nouns -- I presume that AEK will have noun phrases such as _to sofó_
> "the wise one".
Yes, I immediately thought of the Platonic τὸ σοφόν 'the wise [neut.]' =
'wisdom'. But it would be better as the equivalent of the ancient ὁ
σοφὁς - the wise one.
> In that case, _to sofó patró_ could be either "The
> wise father" or "The father of a wise one",
NO - "to sofó patró" _or_ "to patró to sofó" can mean _only_ "the wise
father". There must be some possessive marking!
--
Ray
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ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
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Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]