Mark Volpe: ROOT in DM (reply to Dan Everett)

[Martha McGinnis]

Hi Listers,
    Thanks Dan! I think Haspelmath has observed that
languages, in general, avoid deriving 'die' from the
same ROOT as 'kill'. This is certainly a cultural
aversion, to some extent. The fact that the human race
seems to recognize 'death' as an internally-caused
event, distinct from 'murder' is relevant, as well.
    It's quite true, as you observe, at least for
Japanese, that while 'die' and 'cause to die' are from
the same ROOT, 'kill' is not.
    My point was that where 2 vocabulary items are both
agentive, e.g., 'miru' ('look at'), and 'miseru'
('show'), a strict ROOT, 'mi-' will not be able to
distinguish which vocabulary item is being selected.
    I must tell you that I've had the very good fortune
of discussing the issues with Heidi Harley, and I
believe we have come to a consensus on a DM-friendly
resolution. My concern is that, if it is only Japanese
which needs such a solution, it would seem less
motivated.
    BTW, Dan, I'm a big fan of your piece on 'Wari' in
Handbook of Morphology'. That is you, isn't it?
                     Thanks,---Mark


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