[tied] Re: Germanic preterite optative

I have read that in the Inuit language, an unmarked verb denotes
preterite if there is not anything else in the sentense denoting
another time.

To mark present there are affixes that can be used. I do not have
good enough knowledge about Inuit to be entirely sure, but I suggest
you look at that language.

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "raonath" <raonath@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Sean Whalen <stlatos@> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > --- raonath <raonath@> wrote:
> >
> > > Second, grammaticalization theory suggests that the past is
> > > never umarked (see Bybee et al, "The evolution of grammar").
> >
> > Many theories predict things that are false. Let's
> > imagine a language with the present marked with -i and
> > the past with -a; if later a>0 word-finally then the
> > past will look unmarked.
>
> I can imagine all sorts of things, but to falsify a theory, I need
> to give an actual counterexample.
>
> I would really love to see a real example:
> If we can find an actual human language where something like
> the suggested process occurred, that would be a real test of the
> theory: If that language added additional material (like for
example,
> a time denoting word/phrase to the start of each story) to the
> not explicitely marked form, that would be strong positive
> evidence. Otherwise, we have a counter-example. Either way, we
> would know something new. Otherwise, it is just an armchair
> exercise.
>
> Nath Rao
>