--- In Nostratica@yahoogroups.com, Miguel Carrasquer <mcv@...> wrote:

> On Sat, 31 May 2003 05:03:46 +0000, Rob <magwich78@...> wrote:
>
> >Did Proto-Uralic have a stative paradigm?
>
> Yes, sort of. The instransitive-subjective conjugation has
>
> 1. *-k
> 2. *-n
>
> (details to follow)
>

Is this based on the Hungarian "subjective" conjugation? What
happened to the "intransitive-subjective conjugation" in Proto-Balto-
Finnic?

>
> We have the shift SOV > SVO/VSO in Western Indo-European (VSO in
> [Insular] Celtic) simultaneoulsy with a trend away from flexional
> towards isolating (English is a fine example). Why can't the same
> thing have happened in Northern Afro-Asiatic?
>

By "Western Indo-European," do you mean three by-then-independent
language groups (Italo-Romance, Germanic, and Celtic)? The shifts in
syntax of these groups were independent developments, I believe.
Also, German preserves SOV canonical word-order, so the changes were
not as widespread as you may think.

- Rob