Re: Ungrammaticalization?

Sally Caves wrote:

> Well, Jim and Josh, I'm doing the same thing, and it has escalated since
> I've been trafficking so heavily in Teonaht.
What's so peculiar?  It's just ordinary 2nd-language interference,
the kind that made BoB LeC. speak Russian when addressed in Lojban
on a certain notorious occasion.

> "Where's
> the blanket?" "It's laying on the back porch."  <--me the other day.
I think there's a tendency to mutate from accusative/unaccusative
to personal/impersonal: persons lie, things lay.

>  Talk about Freud... (fortunately the
> policeman didn't understand the English implications) <G>
In a history class, I once inquired whether in mediaeval England,
*trelony* was considered a *feason*.

--
        John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan      cowan@ccil.org
Schlingt dreifach einen Kreis um dies! / Schliesst euer Aug vor heiliger Schau,
Denn er genoss vom Honig-Tau / Und trank die Milch vom Paradies.
                        -- Coleridge / Politzer