Ambiguity in accusative systems (Was: Re: Latin Grammar Dilemma)

On Thu, Nov 28, 2002 at 02:46:05PM -0500, John Cowan wrote:
> Christian Thalmann scripsit:
>
> > Should that be parsed as "I want you to eat" or "I want to eat
> > you"?
> >
> > Does Latin have this ambiguity too?
>
> You betcha.  In fact, there is a story about a Roman general asking
> an oracle who was going to win the next battle.  The god replied on
> the lines of "I foresee the Romans-ACC the enemy-ACC to conquer", neatly
> ambiguous.  The general charged into battle on the strength of this -- and lost.
[snip]

It was ambiguities like these that drove me to design Ebisedian's
(unusual)  case system. I wouldn't have minded if the ambiguity was
between, say, an object and an oblique object; but to be ambiguous between
*subject* and *object* was just too much for me. (Of course, Ebisedian is
ambiguous in other ways, but at least it gets such basic things as noun
roles straight. :-P)


T

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