Re: [tied] The Middle Voice.

From: petegray
Message: 7162
Date: 2001-04-19

> I need a lesson on the middle voice.

Now that you are clear on the use of the middle in Greek and Sanskrit, we
can consider what the situation might have been in PIE. It is tempting to
read back into PIE the Greek distinction, but that might be a mistake.

It may be better to acknowledge the connection between middle and perfect
forms, and suggest that the active-middle distinction might reflect an
active -stative distinction, which several writers have suggested for PIE.

There are a number of words which seem to have two lexemes in PIE (the
debate about akwa and wodr is on this list at the moment). Could one be the
active form, and the other the stative, as some writers suggest?

Could the middle be a mechanism to turn an active verb into a stative?
Or as Helena Kurzova suggested, a means of turning a stative verb (perfect)
into a process?

And so the conjectures multiply ....

I'm sure that's no help at all!

Peter