http://blog.oup.com/2006/12/monthly_gleanin3/ Introducing brilliant authors to the blogosphere. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:43:07 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://blog.oup.com/2006/12/monthly_gleanin3/comment-page-1/#comment-408 Gavin Wraith Thu, 28 Dec 2006 17:33:52 +0000 http://216.110.190.15/2006/12/monthly_gleanings_december_2006/#comment-408 You remark that taking neuter plurals to be feminine singulars is a common development. I am sure that I have read somewhere a theory that, for PIE at least, the whole feminine gender was a development of inanimate plurals, and that the categorization of nouns developed from (animate/inanimate) to (masculine/feminine/neuter). Is this just a marginal hypothesis or is it widely accepted? At school I remember being taken aback that in Greek neuter plurals took singular verbs. Is that part of the evidence for the hypothesis? You remark that taking neuter plurals to be feminine singulars is a common development. I am sure that I have read somewhere a theory that, for PIE at least, the whole feminine gender was a development of inanimate plurals, and that the categorization of nouns developed from (animate/inanimate) to (masculine/feminine/neuter). Is this just a marginal hypothesis or is it widely accepted? At school I remember being taken aback that in Greek neuter plurals took singular verbs. Is that part of the evidence for the hypothesis?

]]>