Interaction: middle and imperfect

From: Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Date: Fri May 30 1997 - 06:54:03 EDT


I've never thought of interactions between voice and mood, but I just ran
into an interesting fact: in the imperfect, ERCOMAI always occurs in the
middle (11 times); in the aorist, it never occurs in the middle (168 times,
all active). Being a naturally speculative type, I wonder if this could have
to do with the force of the middle and the aspect of the imperfect both
reinforcing a more vivid depiction of the actual event of coming?

I hadn't expected this kind of interaction between tense and mood. Does this
kind of pattern occur with other verbs, too? Has anybody written anything
useful about it?

Comments?

Jonathan (who still loves his GRAMCORD!)

***************************************************************************
Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com http://www.mindspring.com/~jwrobie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703 http://www.poet.com
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