Re: infix

> The German vowel changes are not infixion, but ablaut, which is very
> common in IE langs. English sets like 'sing, sang, sung' (as well as
> German ones like 'denken, dachte, gedacht') and other strong verbs are
> surviving examples of Proto-IE verbal inflections. Finnish and Hungarian
> do quite a bit of infixion to do things like complex verb tenses and
> whatnot. I can't give you any specific examples, because my knowledge of
> Finno-Ugric langs is sketchy at best. There are some other list members
> who can give you real examples. For some really crazy infixion and
> agglutination, check out the Inuit langs.
Woohoo! I get to explain the structure of my favourite Hungarian word! I
looovveee doing this =)

word: megverethetne'lek = I could havve you beaten up if I wanted to

ver: to beat
meg- : perfective
-et- : causative? /megveret/ means "to have sy beaten up/
-het- : conditional
-ne'- : conditional
-l- : modifies -et- to show that it is 2pers sg being beaten up
-ek : 1pers sg pres

you can put this together as follows:

ver: to beat
verek: I beat
verlek: I beat (on) you
verne'lek: I would beat you
verhetlek: I could beat you
verhetne'lek: I would beat you if I wanted to
veret : to have someone beat sy/sg
verethetne'lek: I could have you beaten up if I wanted to (imperf)

and add prefix meg- to show perfective

all of these can be used in speaking or writing.

-------ferko
Ferenc Gy. Valoczy

Suurt chugunikka peene ahjo suhe et toukka.

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