From: elmeras2000
Message: 33707
Date: 2004-08-06
> On Thu, 05 Aug 2004 18:46:31 +0200, Miguel Carrasquercould be
> <mcv@...> wrote:
>
> >> I also fail to see the principle whereby the thematic vowel
> >>used to mark the object. Otherwise it expresses belonging. Thatbe
> >>incidentally makes some sense: If the bare endings were passive
> >>("was killed"), the extension by a morpheme of belonging would
> >>possessive ("has killed"), which comes quite close.I can't follow this. What in Basque is parallel with what in IE
> >
> >Yes, that would be another possibility, but it would have to
> >be explained better, because I don't quite get the mechanism
> >you're proposing.
>
> Perhaps a parallel can be found in Basque, where the
> morpheme -(e)n marks the subjunctive, the past tense, and
> the verb of a relative phrase (as far as it isn't already
> past/subjunctive).
>
> This is of course not quite the same picture as PIE (verbal)
> *-e/o-, but who knows whether the Basque preterite
> originated in a perfect of sorts.
>
> Basque also offers a kind of parallel for what I was
> proposing: the ergative subject is usually expressed as a
> set of suffixes on the verb (optionally followed by -(e)n),
> and the absolutive object/subject as a set of prefixes.
> Except in the transitive past tense with 3rd. person object:
> there the ergative is expressed by prefixes similar to the
> ones marking the absolutive.