Sociological Linguistics

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Ralf-Stefan and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Ralf-Stefan Georg <Georg at home.ivm.de>
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 1999 4:01 AM

Pat asked:

>> And, I perceive a difference between "Viele Hunde haben
>> Schwa{"}nze" and "Hunde haben Schwa{"}nze" --- do you not?

Ralf-Stefan answered:

> Sure, but the latter could be conveyed by "Hund haben Schwanz", in
> opposition to, say, "Dies Hund haben Schwanz", "Viele Hund h.S." etc.
> pp.).  If you need to disambiguate, you do, even if you don't have a
> morphological plural in your language.

Pat, rather surprised:

I always thought "haben" was somehow a morphological plural.

 Pat

PATRICK C. RYAN (501) 227-9947; FAX/DATA (501)312-9947 9115 W. 34th St.
Little Rock, AR 72204-4441 USA WEBPAGES:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803 and PROTO-RELIGION:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803/proto-religion/indexR.html "Veit
ek, at ek hekk, vindga meipi, nftr allar nmu, geiri undapr . . . a ~eim
meipi er mangi veit hvers hann af rstum renn." (Havamal 138)