accusative and ergative languages

[Leo A. Connolly]

Robert Orr wrote:

> There's also "sneak - snuck" in English and "schreiben -schrieb-geschrieben"
> in German, both of which are analogical formations  on originally borrowed
> words..

> Robert Orr

_Snuck_ is unquestionably analogical.  But it is quite impossible to
tell whether the strong inflection of _schreiben_ is, since the expected
Germanic reflex of PIE *_skreibh-_, which must underly Latin _scri:bo:_,
is precisely PGmc. *_skri:b-_, which would be expected to produce a
German _schreiben_ with strong inflection.

Leo
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