Re: EAK - two problems

R A Brown wrote:
> Philip Newton wrote:
>
>> On 5/20/07, R A Brown <ray@...> wrote:
[INDEFINITE PRONOUNS]
>>
>> My first inclination was to say that indefinites cannot come before
>> the verb, even if they are the subject, so you'd have _Ti sumbain-_
>> "What's happening?" vs. _Sumbain- ti_ "Something is happening".
>
>
> I had thought along similar lines, but there are, as you note, problems
> .....
The problems occurs only with "something" & "someone" when they are
subject of the verb. It occurs to me that in English we are probably
more likely to say "There's someone coming" rather than simply
"Someone's coming". Certainly, "There's something happening is quite
normal.

I think we might do something similar in EAK.
----------------------------------------------
[POSSESSIVE]


>> Er, which leads to the problem: do you invent something forcibly, or
>> do you solve the problem some other way?
I'm not sure how the proposal below will be viewed. It's not entirely
invention, however.

The two Homeric epics, the Iliad & the Odyssey, occupied a place among
the Greeks comparable to that of the King James Version of the Bible in
the anglophone world. In epic we find the following genitives (accents
not shown):
emeio "of me"; seio "of you"; heio "of her/him".

Also we find the genitive singular of the 2nd decl. -oio. This form was
retain in some of the ancient dialects, e.g. Thessalian, where it later
gave way to -oi), and was employed in metrical inscriptions of later dates.

I am proposing abstracting io (ιο) /jO/ (I had a week or so back decided
that iota before an initial vowel should be [j]) as a possessive
particle. It would come after the element in a possessive phrase, e.g.
to eme-io patró = my father
to to-io eme-io patró mètró = my father's mother

I think one might also add that -io could be omitted after the 1st & 2nd
pers. if one wished, especially if the connexion was close; e.g. to emé
patró.

Thus the opening phrase of the Lord's Prayer might then be:
to emé-laó patró to en to ouranó

This would also deal with the "the wise father" ~ "the father of a wise
one", thus:
to sofó patró = the wise father
to sofó-io patró = the father of a wise one

Comments?

--
Ray
==================================
ray@carolandray.plus.com
http://www.carolandray.plus.com
==================================
Nid rhy hen neb i ddysgu.
There's none too old to learn.
[WELSH PROVERB]

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