Re: Ergative and other questions

Mark J. Reed (and Andreas Johansson) take me to task:

> On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 05:45:54PM -0500, Roger Mills wrote:
> > Mark J. Reed/John Cowan wrote:
> >
> > > On Mon, Nov 17, 2003 at 02:25:03PM -0500, John Cowan wrote:
> > > > > So the -ee suffix in English is ergative.
> >
> > I disagree. The exs. show it is absolutive--
>
> Not the distinction I was making.  "Ergative" here is just short for
> "absolutive/ergative" - it means that the function of -ee follows
> A/E rules rather than "nominative/accusative" - a.k.a. just
> "accusative" - rules.
>
True, perhaps I'm misunderstanding.  But I'm basing my analysis on how these
sentences would go in e.g. Basque.  In the first group, Mike would be ERG,
Susie would be ABS (Basque calls it NOM I think, no matter); in the second
group, Susie, as subj. of intr.vbs., would be in ABS.

Aargh.  Cross all that out.........Re-reading your comment, I see what you
meant, and no argument.  Never mind.;_))))