animate wa-

R. Rankin rankin at ku.edu
Sun Dec 28 19:51:21 UTC 2003


> > How might one say "There was a lot of killing in
> > the war/slaughter."  ??  I suppose the PP and
> > 'many' would be different, but I'd expect to see
> > the WA- sentences become grammatical with that
> > meaning.

> The reaction I got when bringing up

> okichize el ota wa-kte-pi

> as a possible alternative translation was immediate
> and vigorous rejection.

that's interesting, OK.  I wonder if the sentence with WA- could mean anything
in any context.  I still find it curious that it can't refer to killing with the
particular direct object removed.  Maybe something like "there was killing here
and there" or the like.  I guess 'kill' pretty much automatically implies an
animate obj. though.

Bob



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