Re: Italian Particles

From: "Doug Ball"

> >> Nik wrote:
> >
> >> > o ami
> >> > tu amis
> >> > al ame
> >> > o amìn
> >> > o amais
> >> > a amin
> >>
> >> "O" can mean "I", "we", and "y'all"?  Does the grave on -in indicate
> >> stress?
> >
> > 'O' doesn't mean 'I', 'we' and 'y'all' (BTW, is Dutch 'julle' a
contraction
> > of *jou alle(n)?). It's a particel you put before the verb. These are
very
> > common also in Northern Italian dialects: in my dialect, to conjugate a
> > verb, you have to follow this scheme:
> >
> > (Personal Pronoun) + (Particel) + verb-time-personal ending,
> > so you can have things like:
> >
> > (mi)     (a)      canti
> > 1s       ***    sing+1s
> >
> > (ti)       ta     cantat
> > 2s       2s      sing+2s
> >
> > (lüü)    al      canta
> > 3s       3s      sing+3s
> >
> > (nümm)     (a)    cantum
> > 1p            ***    sing+1p
> >
> > (vialtar)     (a)    cantuf
> > 2p            ***    sing+2p
> >
> > (luur)        (i)       cantan
> > 3s            3s        sing+3p
> >
> > So, in a statement as 'ti ta vörat' (you want), you have three elements
to
> > determinate the subject:
> > the pronoun 'ti'
> > the particel 'ta'
> > the desinence '-at'
> >
> > Isn't it cool? English uses only pronouns!
>
> So are there times when you would drop either the particle or the pronoun
> (I'm assuming you would never drop the person agreement suffix on the
verb)?
>
> Do you have any idea about how these particles arose historically?
Wasn't there discussion quite a while back that French was heading in this
direction with the increased use of the independent pronouns in sentences
like:

Moi, je pense.
Toi, tu penses.
Lui, il pense.
Elle, elle pense.
Nous, nous pensons.
Vous, vous pensez.
Eux, ils pensent.
Elles, elles pensent.

or sentences like:

Les chaises, elles sont très belles.
Le fromage, il est délicieux.
Ma mère, elle pense que...

?

Kou