gender

[Miguel Carrasquer Vidal]

"Patrick C. Ryan" <proto-language at email.msn.com> wrote:

>I think the answer is very simply that classifiers and gender are simple
>vocabulary building processes.

>Without IE -*H(1)a, a completely new word for 'queen' would have had to have
>been invented in Latin.

>Pat

>[Moderator's query:
> Do you mean the a-coloring laryngeal, or the e/non-coloring laryngeal, above?
> --rma ]

I guess -(e)H2 was meant.  The Latin word for "queen", regina not
*rega, is actually good evidence for the fact that gender has
nothing to do with vocabulary buiding.  The "vocabulary building"
part is -in- (reg- > regin-).  The gender marker -a is
superfluous.

=======================
Miguel Carrasquer Vidal
mcv at wxs.nl
Amsterdam