[tied] Re: Middle Voice

> In Sinhalese, the middle is expressed by a special verbal
> form, and the subject is in the dative:
>
> mam& vatur& bivva (I+NOM water drank+ACTIVE)
> mat.& vatur& pevuna (I+DAT water drank+MIDDLE)
>
> In the second phrase, the subject is not in control ("I
> accidentally swallowed water").
>

Interesting. That matches Alscher's ideas of matching dative (*-ei)
and middle (*-oi). What's the IE and Old Indic history of the latter
construction?


Torsten