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Re: USAGE: German 'be' (was: Re: Person distinctions in languages?{

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Friday, February 4, 2005, 12:49
Quoting Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>:

> On 4 Feb 2005, at 9.07 pm, Philip Newton wrote: > > > On Fri, 4 Feb 2005 20:47:38 +1100, Tristan McLeay > > <conlang@...> wrote: > >> > >> _warst_ might be a generalisation, or it could be the natural > >> evolution. > > > > Natural form, I suppose, given that the 2sg ending is -st. > > True, but IIRC the English 2nd p. sing. past indic. of 'to be' was > _wast_, which doesn't have an r.
Incidentally, the 'r' of _warst_ is often lost pronunciation; I say [va:st] in informal speech. It would be nifty if this were sound-change undoing an analogical intrusion! Andreas

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Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>