To: ronning AT ilink.nis.za, b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
Subject: Re[2]: over and under-specification
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1999 11:14 -0500 (EST)
I'm not sure how relevant this is to John's question, but (as Rolf
pointed out recently in a separate thread) it seems that many
languages including Hebrew use a past form in irrealis conditional
sentences, and also in ones where the condition is only implied. In
English one can even say "Tomorrow's meeting would/could have been
difficult" (in the context that we have just heard that some problem
has been solved). Similarly one could translate Genesis 18:12 with a
"Could I...?" type question - past in form. So perhaps the suffix
tense here is this past form with irrealis meaning.