>Unlikely, given that we have:
>
> Nenets Nganasan
>1sg.indet. -dm?, -tm -m
>1sg.det. -w, -m -m@
>
>It would seem that, in Samoyedic at least, /m/ alternates with /w/ as
>much as it does in IE, and it has nothing to do with objective/
>subjective conjugations.
Miguel, you're not getting this at all... Picture two Nostratic sentences in
the first and second person, one with absolutive pronouns and the other with
ergative pronouns:
1) *u VERB (intransitive)
*nu VERB (intransitive)
*i VERB (intransitive)
2) *nu~mu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
*ku/tu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
*cu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
The first is an intransitive verb which uses *u as absolutive. There is no
"object". The second uses *nu~*mu (ergative) to convey a transitive verb
while the object is declined in another case. Can you think up a more
credible way that Nostratic verbs operated? No? Then hold your peace.
If we place the pronouns at the END of the sentence and affix them to the
verb, we get:
1) VERB-xu (intrans)
VERB-nu (intrans)
VERB-i (intrans)
2) VERB-mu (trans)
VERB-tu (trans)
VERB(-su) (trans)
What we get is an intransitive-transitive conjugation. Note Elamite -x,
derived from the same system. This system can then easily develop into the
Uralic system of subjective/objective conjugation, exactly as we find in
Nenets:
1) VERB-w (subjective)
VERB-n (subjective)
VERB-i (subjective)
2) VERB-m (objective)
VERB-t (objective)
VERB(-s) (objective)
It can also derive into the situation in IE since there are different kinds
of intransitive verbs, many of which are "stative" like "to be green", etc.
where there can never be an object. Thus in IE, the meaning of the
intransitive shifted towards a stative meaning, conveying a state or
process, and then a perfective meaning. The transitive conjugation was
divided into a secondary (the original conjugation) and a primary (with the
addition of *-i).
In the case of AA, the system took a different turn altogether. From the
following...
1) *u VERB (intransitive)
*nu VERB (intransitive)
*i VERB (intransitive)
2) *nu/mu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
*ku/tu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
*cu OBJECT VERB (transitive)
... would initially come the following in preAA:
1) *wa-VERB (stative)
*na-VERB (stative)
*ya-VERB (stative)
2) OBJECT VERB-na (non-stative)
OBJECT VERB-kWa/-ta (non-stative)
OBJECT VERB-sWa (non-stative)
>>In fact, we also see IE *wei-, don't we.
>
>We do!
And as I say, it's simply *(?)u plus plural suffix. The glottal stop is
automatic in Nostratic and the addition of an *-i plural produced *wi "we"
very early on. No mystery here.
>I assume that by *?ana- you mean the first part of *?an-a(ku) "I".
>The part it shares with *?an-ta "you".
It's not the "first part" of *?anaku. Take note of Hebrew /ani/ without *-ku
termination or a /-k/ found in both Coptic /ano-k/ and /nto-k/. If you were
correct about **?an-a, we'd should rather have had **?an-?a instead, no? And
why would the stative prefixes be used as suffixes here? We would then
expect **?an-ya in the 3ps... which doesn't exist. Finally, the *n-pronoun
is also seen in the 1pp pronoun.
> >and Kartvelian *c^-we-n- "our" (Nostratic *?u)
>
>The plural morpheme *-wen that it shares with *tkwen "you (pl.)"?
Kartvelian *tkwen is another pronoun altogether, from Nostratic 2ps ergative
*ku, found extensively in AA. The original meaning of the Kartvelian
pronouns would appear to have been Nostratic *ti-un "it is I" and *ti-kun
"it is you". (The *ti demonstrative appears in IE as *to, via MidIE *te).
Early Kartvelian *t was palatalized by *i. However, this process was
resisted in *tkwen by the following velar stop. Kartvelian also underwent
similar changes to its vowel system when compared to the development of IE
(prehistoric areal influence with NWC). Thus Nostratic *ku-n becomes *-kwen
just like it would in IE. Finally, one wonders if Kartvelian has influenced
the development of IE *egox (< ? *e-go-x "it is I").
Call it poppycock but this is at least based on more credible sources than
what you're reading and I don't have to reinvent IE phonology either.
- gLeN
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