elmeras2000 wrote:
> One thing I do not understand is why the accented variant, *é or *H1é,
> is used as the augment in the meaning 'then' with distinct remote
> deixis, while the presumed enclitic (and it never is accented) *-(H1)i
> rather means 'now'. Are the two not identical? Or can the difference
> in word order explain any part of this? Any ideas?
Some speculation: the augment may have developed clause-initially if the
deictic element was moved from its usual enclitic position for the sake
of emphasis. The unaccented finite form of the verb followed it as a
second-position (Wackernagel-type) clitic, as in Old English <þa: co:m
he:...>. If the Germanic analogy is anything to go by, narration
("then..., and then..., and then...) could have favoured the fronting of
the deictic element (and so the use of the augment). So, to continue
speculating, the past meaning of the augment may have developed in
story-telling, with "Now I go there..." (with "now" functioning like
"next") reinterpreted as "Then I go/went there..." (with remote deixis).
Piotr