Re: TAKE 2nd verb page updatedc

On 2007-11-02 Philip Newton wrote:
 > On 11/1/07, Henrik Theiling <theiling@...> wrote:
 > > > Exactly like German: die Ochsen, die Du namst
 > [snip]
 > > >   an den Ort, den (der) Gott Dir gab
 >
 > Funny how I've never thought about that -- that is, the
 > fact that "die" and "den" look exactly like the
 > appropriate form of the definite article.
 >
 > Yet for me as a native speaker, they feel like completely
 > different words -- I interpret them as relative pronouns,
 > not as definite articles, even though they look and sound
 > completely the same.
 >
 > Fascinating stuff, this language business.
 >
 > So, very plausible for TAKE.
 >

One wonders if that is because you're also a native speaker
of another language where the article, demonstrative and
relative are clearly distinguished. I that can influence
one's judgment. For me who -- ahem -- used to be a native
speaker of German they are clearly the same, and I may be
influenced by the fact that in Swedish the relativizer is
the indeclinable particle _som_. I think few native speakers
who were not influenced by grammatical theory influenced by
other languages even think of it as a pronoun.

/BP 8^)>
--
Benct Philip Jonsson -- melroch atte melroch dotte se
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No man forgets his original trade: the rights of
nations and of kings sink into questions of grammar,
if grammarians discuss them.
-Dr. Samuel Johnson (1707 - 1784)

Reply