Dan Everett: suppletion (reply to Carson Schutze)

[Martha McGinnis]

Carson's questions and Rolf's answer were both interesting. Let me
suggest an additional example to those Carson brings up. In Wari' many
verbs have suppletive forms on an ergative pattern (described in the
Everett & Kern 1997 Routledge Grammar). I don't have the examples off
the top of my head and am typing this at home, but the process is
simple. Many intransitive verbs have suppletive forms for plural
subjects while many transitive verbs have suppletive forms for plural
objects. The suppletion seems to run from what Carson refers to as
'true' suppletion (such qualifiers make me wince, but I will resist the
temptation to say why) and 'Readjustment'.

I will close with a digression that those who know me will not find
surprising: statements to the effect that 'hypothesis X is more
interesting because it is stronger' are a form of epistemological
sloganeering with little to commend them.

Dan


.........................
Dan Everett
Professor of Phonetics and Phonology
Department of Linguistics
Arts Building
University of Manchester
Oxford Road
M13 9PL
Manchester, UK
dan.everett at man.ac.uk
Dept. Fax and Phone: 44-161-275-3187