Re: Latin - English derivatives, German

> the rule of the building of the Perfekt tense with a double

infinitive.

> (Thus, one gets rid of the ge- prefix of the participle. BTW, in
> Bavarian, this ge- prefix in the participle in many cases

disappears, or

> is reduced to a mere [k] or [g].) But these aren't recent and col-
> loquial or slangy tendencies: the double infinitive is both
> popular/regional and high style Hochdeutsch.

George, as I explained in another message, I was referring to
the most standard form of German, not to regional deviations.
Yet I did not mean Duden-German.

> >I do not find it to be a good basis.
>
> I merely wished to point out that certain grammar & style
> peculiarities, nolens-volens, are indicative of regional and/or
> social aspects of the environment of the speaker.

I was not referring to such an environment.

Extremely

> few people (usually actors and radio-TV anchor people)
> speak such a neutral Hochdeutsch that one isn't able to
> distinguish the persons dialectal background.

I do not suggest there is a neutral form of the language spoken
by everyone. Yet there is a form of the language that enjoys the
highest frequency in what you would call social communication.
This is the language I meant. Not Duden, not Umgangsprache
and not dialects.

Eva