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Article #9Re: Non-IE <was: Romance Languages>: Verbs "to be"
From: Jacques Guy
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 00:09
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 00:09
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comjohn@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Mr. John T Jensen) writes: >If of interest, the distinction exists in Yapese, an Austronesian language >of the Western Caroline Islands. baay (present)/qimmoey (past) mean 'to be >at' and 'there exists', 'to be' as essence is not verbal at all. When I >think about it, it does not seem to me obvious that there should be any >strong connexion between these two meanings. Generally true of Austronesian, it seems. Same in the languages of Espiritu Santo, in "to be" (equational) is not translated, but "to be" (location) is. But there is this other distinction in Spanish/Portuguese that "estar" is also used for an accidental, or temporary attribute (estoy enfermo), "ser" for an essential one (es bueno), and I cannot think of another language with that same feature. A non-IE Iberian influence?
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Newsgroups: sci.lang Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!sgiblab!munnari.oz.au!titan!hal!jbm From: jbm@hal.trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy) Subject: Re: Non-IE <was: Romance Languages>: Verbs "to be" Message-ID: <1992Oct28.000928.17956@trl.oz.au> Sender: root@trl.oz.au (System PRIVILEGED Account) Organization: Telecom Research Labs, Melbourne, Australia References: <1992Oct26.202119.19264@u.washington.edu> <peeters.720153021@tasman> <1992Oct27.034038.18435@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 1992 00:09:28 GMT Lines: 17