>From: Christophe Grandsire <christophe.grandsire@...>
>Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 09:24:01 +0100
>
>En réponse à Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...>:
>
> >
> > Are there any natlangs that have no transitive verbs?
>
>Tagalog! With its trigger system, it can very easily be argued that it has
>no
>transitive verbs, or rather, that the category of transitivity vs.
>intransivity
>doesn't apply to them.
>
Well, I'm talking about NO verbs which can allow two arguments. No DO no IO
no predicate compliments -- nothing.
> And treat trills
> > and
> > clicks as alophones?
>
>That's a strange one I admit.
>
> And use whistles as vowels?
>
>Aren't there a few languages (Amerindian, African?) that use whistles as
>phonemes or phones?
>
>Christophe.
>
The closest I've been able to find is a couple of "codes" one used for
Spanish in the Canaries and one used by one of the Zapotec(???) langs in
Mexico which are whistled versions of the standard tongue used for long
distance communication.
Adam
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