Re: Viko Notes

Quoting Joe <joe@...>:

> > On 25 Jun 02, at 20:32, Christian Thalmann wrote:
> >
> > > --- In conlang@y..., "Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@U...> wrote:
> > > > Quoting Nik Taylor <fortytwo@G...>:
> > > > > Classical Arabic uses the accusative for the "object" of "to be".
> > > >
> > > > ... as do almost all varieties and registers of English.
> > >
> > > Ah?  I didn't know that English had an accusativen casen.  =P
> >
> > "It's me"
>
> What about 'It is I'.  Both are acceptable, though 'It's me' is more
> widespread.
These don't say much about the abstract use of case, though.  I would
bet money that the vast, vast majority of English speakers would find
"That would be we" ungrammatical.  "It is I" is a fixed phrase, one
we are prescriptively taught to use in certain contexts.

=====================================================================
Thomas Wier          "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n /
Dept. of Linguistics  mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..."
University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought /
1010 E. 59th Street   and not complete one road that has no turn"
Chicago, IL 60637     Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers