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Re: THEORY: languages without arguments

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, April 20, 2000, 0:23
Marcus Smith wrote:
> There are no "adjectives" in Mohawk (like in many polysynthetic languages.) > Adjectives are all verbs in some kind of a reduced relative clause.
Functionally, they serve as adjectives.
> As long as they are adjacent to > the noun, the order does not matter. It is only when they separate that they > must precede the noun.
Interesting.
> I think it is a hold-over from Old Japanese. OJ apparently didn't have case > marking for subjects and objects -- they were recently developed from a > genitive (-ga)
Interesting. Then where did _no_ come from, and when did it begin to replace -ga?
> There is also the noun koto "fact" which often appears at the end of a > sentence, but that has a purely grammatical function now, as far as I can > tell.
Interesting. What is that function? -- "If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!" - Ralph Waldo Emerson ICQ: 18656696 AIM Screen-Name: NikTailor