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Re: Circumfixes?

From:Douglas Koller, Latin & French <latinfrench@...>
Date:Thursday, June 7, 2001, 14:35
Ray wrote:

>Both circumfixes & circumpositions are found in natlangs. According to >Trask, Tigrinya has a circumfix _bi-.....-gize_ = "at the time when" and >Mandarin Chinese has a circumposition _dao2......li3_ = "into" (acc. to >Trask _dao2_ = "to" and _li3_ = "in" - he gives an example: _dao2 guon2 >li3_ = (literally) to can in = into the can). I'm feeling tired this even, >but I seem to recall that such circumpositions are not uncommon in Mandarin.
If I understand your use of the word "circumposition", then I have a slightly different take on it in Mandarin. "Dao4" is a coverb (though it can also stand on its own, meaning "arrive, get to"), while "li3", I think strictly speaking, is a noun. So literally, it's: to/toward (something's) inside. Ma3yi3 pa2dao4 guan1tou2 li3mian4 qu4. ant crawl-to can inside go The ant crawled into the can. This pattern is indeed not uncommon in Mandarin, but seems a little different to me than the "bi-...-gize" structure of Tigrinya (though I know nothing of this language). Kou

Replies

claudio <claudio.soboll@...>Basics
Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>