Interpreting ergative sentences

[Patrick C. Ryan]

Dear Leo and IEists:

 ----- Original Message -----
From: <CONNOLLY at LATTE.MEMPHIS.EDU>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 1999 12:01 AM

<snip>

> Sumerian is even worse, since we don't have all that much of
> it (no poetry, no menus, nothing that seems to be finely nuanced
> speech.  And on top of that, it's ergative, and most of us (including
> me) are *not* used to dealing with such languages.

 <snip>

> So please, caution!  And take due note of what has been discovered
> about *living* ergative languages.  You can't hope to understand the
> dead ones without them.

Pat comments:

I think everyone will agree that this is an interesting posting. And the
cautions that Leo advises should be taken to heart by anyone dealing with
languages of the past.

But, Leo, there is quite a lot of Sumerian poetry --- some quite intriguing.

Pat