Re: Japanese and Indo European

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "ikpeylough" <ikpeylough@...> wrote:

>
> The Japanese text I have here lists {tabete} as gerund, and the
> imperative as {tabero}.

The gerund(ive) form is tabete 'eat-ing.' To say 'I am eating,' you
would say "(watashi ga) tabeteimasu," I believe.

> No infinitive is given in the book. {taberu} is the non-past form.

The form 'taberu' is from the root tabe- and the suffix -u, with /r/
as an epenthetic consonant.

> Neither the term "present participle" nor the form {tabende} are
> mentioned. Forms ending in {-nde} are usually the gerund forms of n-

,

> m-, and b- stems, e.g. {sinu - sinde, nomu - nonde, yobu - yonde}.

Sin-u : sin-te :: nom-u : nom-te :: yob-u : yob-te

> > Another sign, the word "wa" to introduce the agent in a sentence.

I

> > have read somewhere that it existed in Nostratic.

It appears that *wa was a topic marker in Nostratic -- cf. Semitic
nominative *-u, PIE pronominal nominative *-u, PU reflexive > medio-
passive *-u.

- Rob