Verbs of existence

[E. Bashir]

VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
Editors:  Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York
          John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
Details:  Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: INFO VYAKARAN
Subscribe:Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say:
          SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
          (Substitute your real name for first_name last_name)
Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu

Dear Prashant,

Good to see a message from you.

The two NWIA "Dardic" languages Kalasha and Khowar, on
which I work, make this distinction.  Since the verbs
of existence are used as auxiliaries throughout the
verb system, the animacy distinction applies to most
of the basic verb forms.

The situation is as follows:
           Animate                    Inanimate

Kalasha    asik                       s^ik

Khowar     asik                       s^ik

(s^ = palatal sibilant)

As I have said in several places, the inherited
grammatical gender system has been replaced in these
languages by an animacy-based system.

Regards,
Elena Bashir

--- Prashant Pardeshi <prashantpardeshi at YAHOO.COM>
wrote:
> VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
> Editors:  Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New
> York
>           John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck,
> Germany
> Details:  Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu
> and say: INFO VYAKARAN
> Subscribe:Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu
> and say:
>           SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
>           (Substitute your real name for first_name
> last_name)
> Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu
>
> Dear Vyakaran list members,
>
> Currently a collegue of mine is working on verbs of
> existence in Japanese from a historical perspective.
> As you know, Japanese makes a distinction in the
> verb
> of exitence according to animacy: the verb "iru" is
> used for animates while the verb "aru" is used for
> inanimates.
>
> We are looking for languages which make such a
> distinction and would appreciate if the list members
> can suggest some references. To the best of my
> knowledge Tamil and Sinhalese make such a
> distinction.
>
> Thanking you in anticipation,
>
> Best regards,
> Prashant Pardeshi (Kobe University, Japan)
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
> protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com