Re: [tied] Singulative

You are relying on a, what many of us would consider, highly dubious authority.

In my opinion, -k is always a diminutive.

I have never seen an example of -k in any language that I could analyze as a singulative.

For 'singulative', there appear to be only two options: -n ('one of many')and -s ('unique one'), with slightly different nuances.

Patrick

----- Original Message -----

From: tgpedersen

To: cybalist@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 6:01 AM

Subject: [tied] Singulative

I read in Gam & Iv that Gk. 'gunaikos' "woman" has been proposed to be
a collective with a singulative -k- suffix.

Aha.

So that's what the ubiquitous -k- suffix in Nordwestblock is:

eg.
Dan. padde "amphibian", Eng. paddock
Dan. tæppe, Germ. teppich "carpet"
Germ Made, Da. maddike, Eng maggot (metathesis?)
And in every one of those cases the simplex makes sense as a
collective (or non-countable mass).

Torsten

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