Re: Kabardian antipassives

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, enlil@... wrote:

> Okay. I finally uncovered the article online, Jens:
> http://www.sussex.ac.uk/linguistics/documents/q1025_lecture_8.pdf
>
> "In Kabardian (Caucasus) (8) the antipassive indicates uncompleted

or

> habitual activity, or a non-specific patient. Both of these

phenomena

> correspond to the concept ?less than prototypically transitive?."
>
> I think that is a pretty clear statement. So, as I said, claiming

that

> the *-e found at the end of IE perfects once functioned as an
> "antipassive" of all things would produce the exact opposite

effect of

> what we're after, which is a _completed_ activity.

I would say it just indicated a lack of interest in the patient,
which would be appropriate for something with a vaguely stative
sense. That ties in with the perfect being more likely than the
present to be in the middle in Greek. Also, the meaning of the
perfect is not so much completion as having an enduring effect.

Richard.