accusative and ergative languages

petegray petegray at btinternet.com
Sun Jul 11 18:45:59 UTC 1999


> Pat writes:

> Well, on page 40 of Chao's Mandarin Primer, are listed "Affixes":
> 11 are listed; ...

I simply cannot let this go.    Verbal compounds are rife in modern Chinese,
and the second elements ("affixes" if we are using terms inappropriate for
Chinese) are derived from a large number of concepts.   The fact that Chao
lists 11 only means that he has selected 11, and does not reflect the actual
nature of the Chinese language.   Things are not as simple as that grammar
makes them seem!

Peter



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