Re: questions about Arabic

En réponse à Eric Christopherson <rakko@...>:

>
> But I think */kawana/ had already lost the /w/ by the time of the
> Qur'an, or
> else it would be written with a waw.
>
I agree with you, though I wonder if by the time of the Qoran the verb was
already pronounced /ka:na/ or still /kO:na/.

> > This
> > looks quite correct knowing that the main meanings of the derived form
> n°2 is
> > intensification or repetition of the action, or factitive ("to
> compose" looks
> > quite correct as factitive of "to be", doesn't it?).
>
> Quick question: What's the difference between factitive and causative?
>
For what I know, those two words are interchangeable, though some people make a
difference between causative and factitive on account that the subject of a
factitive must be animate (agent), while the subject of a causative can be
inanimate (cause). I don't know of any language that has distinct forms for the
factitive and the causative though. There must be one though: there's always one
:))) .

Christophe.

http://rainbow.conlang.free.fr