Dear Torsten and Nostraticists:

----- Original Message -----
From: <tgpedersen@...>
To: <nostratic@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 9:32 AM
Subject: [nostratic] Re: A reworked Nostratic



<snip>

One thing that strikes me is the abundance of roots differing by
d/l/r/n, as in

http://www.angelfire.com/rant/tgpedersen/dlnr.html

[PCR]
I do not think /*d/ (or /*t?/ as I would have it) really belongs in this series. When it does occur, it commonest source is Nostratic *ta?, 'hand, give'.

But the others:

Nostratic /*l/ (which I would amend to /*nh/on the basis of the Egyptian reflexes of it), is an ingressive, usually, though it essential meaning is 'move back and forth', as in *mel-, 'lick', 'move back and forth with the tongue'.

Nostratic /*n/ means 'one, thing', and is the commonest way of nominalizing a verbal root.

Nostratic /*r/ means 'apply, do, scratch'; and is a common way of verbalizing a nominal root.

I am surprised that you have left out Nostratic /*y/ which provides 1) a progressive sense to a verb; and 2) as a differentiator of closely semantically related items; and

Nostratic /*w/, which most commonly indicates repeated activity, and suggest a perfective nuance; and

Nostratic /*?/, which provides a stative: *mo:, '(hu)man'; *mo:?, 'manly, hero'.

Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN | PROTO-LANGUAGE@... (501) 227-9947 * 9115 W. 34th St. Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES: PROTO-LANGUAGE: http://www.geocities.com/proto-language/ and PROTO-RELIGION: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit ec at ec hecc, vindgá meiði a netr allar nío, geiri vndaþr . . . a þeim meiþi, er mangi veit, hvers hann af rótom renn." (Hávamál 138)