Nik Taylor wrote:

> > What sorts of things cause a language to gain cases?
>
> Adpositions becoming affixes, I don't know what would *cause* that, but
> that's how they'd originate.  For instance, suppose that /t(@)/ became a
> dative marker in English.  In Spanish, the preposition _a_ indicates
> accusative, it's reasonable to suppose that at some future date it might
> become a prefix.

Right.  If you're interested in those processes, Cambridge University
Press puts out a series of linguistics books; check out the one entitled
_Grammaticalisation_ (or some such thing).

> > This, paradoxically, can de-emphasize the importance of rhyme
>
> I don't see why that would be a paradox - poetry involves things that
> aren't part of prose.  If rhymes occur all the time, it would lose its
> significance.

Indeed,  as late as the 17th century, Milton when writing _Paradise Lost_
had to excuse the fact that his verse was unrhymed, in imitation of the
classical poets:

    "...Rime being no necessary Adjunct or true Ornament of Poem or good
    Verse, in longer Works especially, but the Invention of a barbarous Age,
    to set off wretched matter and lame Meeter...."

Latin and Greek being highly inflected languages, it was only too easy to
find rhyming words.

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Tom Wier <[log in to unmask]>
AIM: Deuterotom ICQ: 4315704
<http://www.angelfire.com/tx/eclectorium/>
"Cogito ergo sum, sed credo ergo ero."
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