Re: polysynthetic languages

Yep, inuit is definately polysynthetic and I'm pretty sure it has case
markers on the nouns. Also, I think its ergative... why are so many
polysynthetic languages ergative? I wonder if there's a reason or if my
perception is just wrong.

> At 09:24 AM 9/24/03 +0100, you wrote:
>
>> Doesn't inuit have case markers on the nouns? I'm pretty sure it does...
>
>
> I'll see if I can find out.  (Right now, I'm going over that web page on
> Georgian.  Thanks for the tip.  Inuit is polysynthetic, isn't it?
>
> Isidora
>
>
>>>>  > Which leads to my next question...Are there any natural
>>>>  > polysynthetic languages that do mark the nouns for case?  It seems
>>>>  > to me that it would certainly be *possible* for polysynthesizm and
>>>>  > a case system to be found together because there are a number of
>>>>  > languages out there that are fond of redundancy and wouldn't mind
>>>>  > marking everything twice.  Alternatively, are there any natural
>>>>  > languages that fall below the morpheme-to-word ratio needed to be
>>>>  > considered polysynthetic, rather than merely synthetic, that both
>>>>  > mark the verb for both subject and object agreement and also mark
>>>>  > nouns for case?
>>>
>

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