snip
Do these data apply to WAY- prefixed forms, to non-prefixed forms, or to others? One reason for different results for the first person is that, as is well known, first person jussive (or cohortative) forms commonly (although not always) carry a suffix -A (written as he), and this suffix rules out apocopation. I would need to look more closely at the reason for the difference between singular and plural. I don't rule out phonological factors applying alongside semantic ones.
To answer your question about numbers, I would like to point out that apocopation is connected with *person* and not with *root*. This suggests that apocopation is phonologically/morphologically and not etymologically conditioned. I bring a quote from p. 120 of my dissertation:
"In the 1st person singular/plural group, 66.9 percent of the forms that could have been apocopated are normal and 33.1 percent are apocopated. In the 3rd person plural group of Hiphils, 75 percent of the forms that could have been apocopated are normal, and 25 percent are apocopated; in the 3rd person singular group only 1.3 percent of the forms that could have been apocopated are normal and 98.7 percent are apocopated. The logical conclusion to draw is that the choice of apocopation or not is connected with phonological factors and morphology, because the stress patterns are different in 3rd person masculine singular forms compared with 1st person singular/plural and 3rd person masculine plural forms."
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.