--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...>
wrote:
> Within IE, we also have the Slavic periphrastic neo-perfect with
forms
> of 'to be' plus the l-participle. It has completely ousted the old
past
> tenses in most of Slavic, becoming the only kind of preterite. The
shift
> has taken place independently in so many different languages that
it
> must be a natural evolutionary trajectory.
Sure, right, 'have done' can become 'did' very easily. Now then, if
that is such an easy and obvious change, why is it *never* assumed
that is has occurred in PIE too?
If the PIE perfect was also changing its functional restrictions so
as to allow use as past tense there would be a simple inherited
basis for the past of the hi-conjugation and the Germanic strong
preterite (and some others), which would then offer no basis for
those mighty interesting theories of superarchaic categories that
pop up every now and again. I know this is spoiling the fun, but how
probable are funny things?
Jens