Re: Re[4]: [tied] Laryngeal Reduction - Rule-1: -CHCC- > -CCC-

'Nil' is a Briticism for American English 'zero'.

1,09 from German is in American English one point zero nine.

Null in German is 'zero' (AE), 'nil' or 'naught' (BE).

The word "nil-grade" was in the previous sentence in the message. I am
surprised there was any confusion on anyone's part.

Why would I suggest Arnaud is a 'nihilist'?

Whatever style Piotr _favours_ is fine with me.


Patrick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...>
To: "Patrick Ryan" <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2008 8:46 PM
Subject: Re[4]: [tied] Laryngeal Reduction - Rule-1: -CHCC- > -CCC-


> At 8:22:26 PM on Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Patrick Ryan
> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > I did _not_ write "nihilist"; I wrote "nilist", a
> > reference to your peculiar "nil-grade" terminology instead
> > of the standard 'zero-grade'.
>
> Arnaud isn't the only one who failed to understand it as you
> intended. I also took it to be a misspelling of 'nihilist',
> or possibly a pun on 'Nile'; normal English orthographic
> conventions guarantee that <nilist> will be read /'naIlIst/,
> not /'nIlIst/. If you want the latter, <nil-ist> and
> <nillist> are about your only reasonable choices.
>
> Then again, it would never have occurred to me that anyone
> here would fail to recognize the term 'nil-grade'. Though
> 'zero grade' is more common, 'nil grade' isn't precisely
> uncommon, probably as a direct translation of 'Nullstufe'.
> Here, for instance, is a quotation from Piotr's 'An Overview
> of the Proto-Indo-European Verb System', 'The suffix
> *-sk^e-/*-sk^o-, usually added to nil-grade bases, forms
> iterative (or inchoative) stems'. (There are several other
> instances of the term on that page.)
>
> Brian
>
>
>