Re: [tied] Morphology 19 update - Ego

--- In cybalist@..., Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Wed, 04 Dec 2002 02:37:37 +0000, "Glen Gordon"
> <glengordon01@...> wrote:
>
> >
> >Miguel:
> >>PIE *é-g^, from deictic *e- + emphatic *-g^ (*-g^h in

Indo-Iranian).

> >
> >For many obvious reasons, "I" is to be reconstructed as *égo:.
> >One of those obvious reasons, besides being fully attested as such,
> >is that it quite assuredly meant "I am here". The most important
> >element is the 1sg ending because without it we only have the
> >meaning "here", and then we can't explain why it eventually was
> >conjugated like a thematic verb.
>
> "I" was never conjugated, it's a pronoun.

It's nominative singular only, so it wasn't declined either. :)

> >The obvious solution is that *eg-
> >WAS a verb meaning "to be here" and we have the support of a
> >parallel in Inuktitut, /uva-nga/ "I am here". Semantically
> >equating "here" with "I" is hardly as likely
>
> Excuse me? What do you think "here" means if not "close to me"? In
> Spanish, as in many other languages, we have aquí (close to me), ahí
> (close to you), allí/allá (close to neither speaker nor hearer),

with

> full three person deixis (also in the demonstrative: este, ese,
> aquel). "Here" _already includes_ the concept of "I". That's why

in

> PIE, the person marker *-m(u) was optional in the 1sg. pronoun

(basic

> *eg^ or extended *eg^om/*ego:).

1) Close to us.
2) First place considered? (I believe there's a Spanish analogy.)
3) Last place considered? (Latin hic = 'latter')

I'm not sure if I've understood the semantic development. I think it
might be,

'I'm here, [so listen to what concerns me] {statement}'.

But one can equally well have

'You're here, [so you can't pretend you didn't know] {command}'.

In fact, in English 'here' is used to attract attention for peremptory
commands or questions, e.g. 'Here, you pick up that rubbish!'. (This
actually brings to mind the /k/ in the Lithuanian imperative.)

Is this usage a reflection of having a 2-way deictic system?

Moving one segement back, is there any evidence that the replacement
of *eg^- by *eg^H- occurred in Indo-Iranian rather than Indo-Aryan?
(Why has 'Indic' gone out of fashion? It was so much easier to use!)

Richard.