<pVnp-> [was: Basque butterflies again]

[Max Wheeler]

[ moderator re-formatted ]

Larry Trask writes:

> However, given the restriction of the <pVnp-> expressives to French Basque,
> and largely to Lapurdian, an economical view might be that <pVnp-> is an
> expressive pattern in Occitan which has been borrowed into neighboring
> varieties of Basque and used there to coin new formations.  I don't know
> enough Occitan to say if this is plausible, but it can't be ruled out *a
> priori*.

There is evidence of the areality of <pVnp->. I've looked in S. Palay
Dictionnaire du Béarnais et du Gascon modernes. I find numbers of head
entries as follows:

pamp-	29
pemp-	 7
pimp-	21
pomp-	 0
pump-	31

And its not just Gascon. Mistral, Tresor dóu Felibrige (pan-Occitan,
including Gascon) gives entries:

pamp-	27
pemp-	 3
pimp-	26
pomp-	 0
pump-	45

By way of comparison, Lewis & Short's Latin dictionary gives:

pamp-	10
pemp-	 0
pimp-	 0
pomp-	12
pump-	 0

These dictionaries are of very roughly comparable dimensions. A high proportion
of the entries in question have a plausible affective component, though
derivatives of POMPA 'show, display' account for most of the Latin pomp- words,
while in Occitan/Gascon a good proportion of the pump- words are contain the
sense 'pump'.

If I get time I'll pursue the question whether any of the specific Lapurdian
<pVmp-> words Larry cites have plausible Occitan cognates.

Max
______________________________________________________________
Max W. Wheeler
School of Cognitive & Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Falmer
BRIGHTON BN1 9QH, G.B.

Tel: +44 (0)1273 678975 Fax: +44 (0)1273 671320 Email: maxw at cogs.susx.ac.uk
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