Re: The structure of nostratic

So what Knut?

Your presentation is neither scientific nor does it contribute towards the
betterment of mankind.

I think it's time to end the discussion of who thinks which ancient language
depicts which voice. After all, there is no proof whatsoever to prove your
allegation.

Sincerely,
Gerry Reinhart-Waller

----- Original Message -----
From: Knut Holt <aquila_grande@...>
To: <nostratic@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:52 PM
Subject: Re: [nostratic] Re: The structure of nostratic

>
> --- Gerry Reinhart-Waller <waluk@...> wrote:
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> I truly hate to offer my opinion, but I will,
> nevertheless. 
> 
> As far as I know, most languages allow a shift
> between SVO, OVS, VOS etc. 
> This is usually called "voice". 
> Thus, Bill hits the ball, The ball is hit by
> Bill, Hitting the ball by Bill 
> is..... and so forth. 
> 
> One cannot equate sentence formation with a particular
> archaic language. 
> 
> Gerry 
> 
>
> Well
>
> It is true that most languages allowes such shifts,
> but the kind of shifts allowed differs between a
> vso-language and svo-language. The shift vso/sov is
> nearly never found in voice changes.
>
> The difference between a typcal VSO-language and
> SOV-language also goes much deeper. Here are some
> typical properties:
>
> VSO
> Prepositions
> Attributes placed after
> Sentences strung together with conjunctions
>
> SOV
> Case endings/postpositions
> Attributes placed before
> Sentences subordinated using partisipial constructions
> with case endings
>
> Actually a typcal VSO-language as for example Arabic
> or Hebrew is based upon a totally different prinsiple
> of ordering elements than a typical SOV-language, as
> for example Turkish or Japanese.
>
> Therefore comparison of grammatical structure, I
> think, should be as important as comparing phonems and
> word stems.
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