Me:
> In Mandarin, 'de' is not a diminutive. It's
> retroflex -r that pops up here and there somewhat
> optionally.
Torsten:
> For the record, I never claimed it was.
I never claimed that you claimed this. I was simply
explaining how the Mandarin example is different from
what you're explaining about Basque -ko, that's all.
The particle /de/ is simply used for relative clauses
and possessives and I believe that this supplies
a perfect analogy to the IE connection amongst the
relative pronoun *yo-, the thematic genitive *-os-yo
and the use of denominal *-y[e/o]- in what I
interpret to be phrasal-incorporated verb stems. It
all ties together too nicely to be ignored.
> Yep, there's a problem there. But consider:
> 1) PIE had coordinated, not subordinated sentences,
> so the *kW- pronouns must be late.
What exactly does that mean? Can you elaborate?
> 2) -ko, with plain /k/, and therefore suspected of
> being a loan, [...]
A dangerous assumption. There is nothing odd about
that phoneme at all. It is by far one of the most
common sounds in world languages, for Pete's sake!
Even Hawaiian has /k/ despite being an oddball
that lacks /s/.
> 3) Until about 1500 BCE, all IE speakers could be
> reached by ship in the Mediterranean.
Why 1500 BCE? Where did you pull that date from?
You're making a whole bunch of empty assertions
without coming forth with the facts that support
your basis. As usual. Why should we have to goad you
into providing evidence? It should be automatic by
your own accord.
= gLeN
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