Miguel:

>Basque is in fact a good example of how genitives can come about.

Ah, now that Tocharian proves to be a dead avenue, we'll see what
can come of the "evidence" seen in Basque. To be fair (which
I don't like to be very often), I'll admit that your understanding
of Basque is a little more respectable than your knowledge and
views on other languages. That's as close I can be to giving you
an explicit compliment so you better take it while you can >:)

>The -ko genitive is a special case of the general adjectivizing
>suffix -ko [which is why Larry Trask refuses to call it a "genitive"],
>which can be added not just to nouns but to whole
>phrases,

Then, this would be identical in function to /de/ in Mandarin.
It is also not a "genitive" per se, however it cannot be viewed
as an adjectival postposition either. Like Basque /-ko/, Mandarin
/de/ can be used to form relative phrases like /Lai le Beijing de
haizi./ "The child who has arrived from Beijing."

However, this is all trivial and proves nothing, of course, because
it doesn't answer the question of which came first, the genitival
suffix or the adjectival suffix. Or perhaps, should we even consider
a third source. Who knows? You certainly don't.

You have still to establish a secure conclusion showing
monodirectional causation, as it were. You fruitlessly continue to
pursue the topic of correlation, something which we both already
accept as existing between the adjective and genitive. Please focus.

>so the possessive might alternatively have an adjectival origin as well.

Again, Basque, like Tocharian, appears to be an insecure example
hopelessly laced with might's and maybe's.


- love gLeN



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