Trivial Truths and Genetic "Patterns"

[Jurgis Pakerys]

[David L. White quotes:]

>> Dr White indicated that verb morphology might have some preemptive claim
>> over those other forms.

[David L. White responds:]

> Yes, that is my claim.  Cases known (to me) are so few that sampling error
> (in a somewhat informal sense) is a real possibility, but it seems that
> borrowing of nominal morphology typically (or at least often) involves a sort
> of creeping infiltration, as in Rumanian or Old Lithuanian,

[...]

What are the cases of "Old Lithuanian" nominal morphology borrowing you have
in mind? Do you mean the ones like allative (locative case denoting
direction towards something, e.g. tevop(i) "towards the father"), adessive
(... denoting proximity to something, e.g. upeip(i) "by the river"), etc.?
Would you say these are examples of pattern / model borrowing from some
Fennic source (as it is sometimes suggested)? (I'm sorry if I misuse
"Fennic" (I have no reference at the moment), but I hope Ante Aikio will
correct me and will also express his views on the subject).

How would you describe "creeping infiltration" in this ("Old Lithuanian")
case? How can it be compared to Rumanian? What exactly is the nominal
morphology borrowing case in Rumanian?

Best regards,
Jurgis Pakerys

PhD student
Vilnius University