tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Wed Dec 12 20:04:36 2007
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Re: Prefix and noun agreement
- From: McArdle <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Prefix and noun agreement
- Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:02:46 -0800 (PST)
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- In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
--- [email protected] wrote:
> In a message dated 12/12/2007 8:29:09 AM Central
> Standard Time,
> [email protected] writes:
>
> > >I suspect that it works in most languages where
> the verb conjugation
> > >can give an explicit "third person plural
> subject" mark to the sentence.
> > >Are there any Latin scholars reading?
> >
>
> Latin word order is such that a noun with a first or
> second person verb would
> be interpreted as a predicate nominative, rather
> than a subject, regardless
> of position.
>
I don't think so. The verb would have to be one
regarded by the hearer as copulative. A clear
counterexample springs to mind: "Morituri te
salutamus" - "We who are about to die salute you".
There's no place for a predicate nominative in this
sentence, so "morituri" is clearly the subject of a
first-person plural verb (or, if you prefer, it stands
in apposition to a suppressed pronominal subject).
-- mI'qey
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