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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=FR link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Dear Michael and Timur,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> The Lezgic verificative you mention is fairly particular, since it illustrates a clear grammaticalisation process, as shown 1) by the attrition of Archi <i>ak:u</i> ”see” into <i>-k:u-</i> in your first example; 2) by the insertion of <i>-k:u-</i> and Agul <i>–čuk’-</i> into the verbal complex, which can be considered as a proof of their treatment as parts of the morphology of these Lezgic languages.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> This the reason why I am not sure that French <i>voir</i> cited by Alec and Mandarin </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>看</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>kàn</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> cited by André correspond to the same phenomenon, let alone that </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>看</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> does not mean “see” but “look at”; it takes the resultative meaning “see” only when suffixed by </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>见</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>jiàn</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>, yielding </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>看见</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>kànjiàn</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>, just as another perception verb, </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>听</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>tīng</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> “listen to”, yields, when suffixed by the same </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>见</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>jiàn</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> element, a compound verb </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>听见</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>tīngjiàn</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> “hear”. Muhammad’s Pashto example exhibits a verb <i>gor</i></span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>ə</span></i><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>m</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> ”I see” (by the way, Osmanli and Azeri Turkish, another family, have <i>gör(mek)</i> and <i>gör(m</i></span><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>ə</span></i><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>k)</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> respectively “to see”!), which is simply the normal lexical use of a verb, in a special meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The Vanuatu Oceanic examples cited by Alec seem closer to the Lezgic phenomena, since one of them represents the last step of a grammaticalisation process.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='text-indent:35.4pt'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>One can also mention a certain use of Japanese <i>miru</i> “to see” in such sentences as</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>行って</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>み</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:SimSun;color:#1F497D'>ま</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>しよう</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> i(k)-tte mi-ma(s)-yoo (go-CONVERB see-POLITENESS-EXHORTATIVE) </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>let</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>’</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>s go</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>”</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> (with an implication that there is something to be seen). The use of the -<i>te</i> converbal form here in association with the verb <i>mi(ru)</i> </span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>“</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>see</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>”</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> may be considered as a syntactic, rather than morphological, phenomenon. But what it expresses is in fact a tentative meaning. I would therefore characterize these uses of Chinese <i>k</i></span><i><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>à</span></i><i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>n</span></i><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>, French <i>voir</i> or Japanese <i>mi(ru)</i> as tentative uses. I propose calling tentative this kind of expression. However, this is not exactly the same as the Lezgic morphemes cited by Michael and Timur, because they don</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>’</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>t have a tentative, but a verificative meaning. To that extent, these Lezgig facts remain particular.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>All best.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Claude Hag</span><span lang=ZH-CN style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>è</span><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Unicode MS","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>ge<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>