Re: [tied] Romanian Verb Endings and Substratum influence (repost)

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Thu, 02 Jun 2005 15:05:12 +0000, tgpedersen
> <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> >I don't get it; *-s > *-j ? How's that supposed to happen,
> >phonologically?
>
> Probably in a way similar to what is happening in Brazilian
> Portuguese right now. In Brazilian, a final -s after a
> stressed vowel becomes -js (mas > /májs/, voz > /vójs/,
> Jesús > /z^esújs/, tres > /tréjs/, vocês > /voséjs/).
> Drop the -s (something that also happens in Brazilian
> Portuguese), and you have the Eastern Romance situation.
>
> >And why does it coincide with the only separate 2nd
> >sg. ending? No analogy here at all?
> >I assume something similar happened in Italian. How does one

explain

> >the plural -es > -i for 3rd declension nouns and adjectives?
>
> Sometimes survival of the archaic Latin ending -i:s. Mainly
> of course by analogy with o-stem masculine pl. -i.

Ahem. If we can't do without analogy, I like my rule better: Choose
nom.pl. -i over acc.pl. -os -> substitute -i for -s everywhere; or
you're West Romance (and not a Byzantine subject, and therefore not
to be trusted).
This (unlike your proposal) would explain the general preference
for -i over -s in East Romance.
Also, if you want hinge a proposal on the occurrence of 2nd sg. -i
in a single conjugation, you should provide independent evidence for
-is > -i, otherwise the reasoning becomes circular.


Torsten