Re: Different types of roots; temporary/permanent stative verbs?

On Fri, May 04, 2001 at 08:35:18PM -0400, Nik Taylor wrote:
> Eric Christopherson wrote:
> > I'm also wondering about different ways of actually *defining* the
> > difference -- how fleeting does something have to be to be "temporary," and
> > how long-lived to be "permanent"? Of course, there can be some flexibility
> > and irregularity -- in Spanish you say <estar muerto> as if the dead are
> > only temporarily dead :)
>
> Actually, the difference is more like ser = inherent characteristic;
> estar = condition.  In _está muerto_, being dead is seen as the
> condition that the person is in, not an inherent part of who they are.
Yeah, as Matt said (and as I recall having read in my Spanish grammar, after
asking the original question). I wonder if there could be three or more
levels of "inherentness" -- for example, a given man is (level 1) a human
being; (level 2) a writer (for a living); (level 3) feeling under the
weather. Perhaps (level 4) eating chicken soup :)

--
Eric Christopherson / *Aiworegs Ghristobhorosyo