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Re: very confused - syntax question

From:J.Barefoot <ataiyu@...>
Date:Sunday, July 4, 1999, 18:13
>From: Sally Caves <scaves@...> >
I wonder how Jennifer is
>using middle voice. "with my brothers they won the prize for >themselves?" >or: "with my brothers the prize wins for them"? I was wrong to cast it >as I did in my last example in the passive voice. I have it firmly in >my head, for some reason, that your resumptive pronoun "they" had to >echo the case of "with my brothers," Jennifer. Better: > >... with my two brothers that the prize won (itself) for them...
"Middle voice" has been very misleading, as I see now. It was just the term I adopted because the inflection "-al" is passive if the subject is a topic (not focus, thank you Raymond), and reflexive if the subject is an agent. (And I see now that the terminology "topic" has been widened for Asiteya. Oh well.)
> >which is why you are wondering whether "won" should be singular or >plural. Am I all washed up? <G> > > > >ta rusa-k@-mi siu na a-kanyase ko kanyan-al-ena inya kah > > >with brother-pl-my two that the-prize TOP.past >won-middle-they.resumptive > > >they.resumptive BEN > > >with my two brothers who won the prize > >What is the case of -ena? What is the double "they resumptive" doing? >What is inya kah?
"-ena" is the third person plural inflection of the verb when it occurs inside a relative clause. Defining it as resumptive would make it refer to the plural antecedent outside the clause, the brothers. Right? I may or may not keep it. "inya kah" is the resumptive third person plural pronoun plus the benefactive case particle.
>
> > >Should "kanyan" be inflected for third person plural?
>Or unless you mean "won" to have as its subject "prize" and not >"brothers." >????? >Sally
I don't think so? I mean, I don't think so. I mean, no, probably. I mean, (screams)... Jennifer _______________________________________________________________ Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com