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Date: 21-Feb-2007 From: Victor Bayda <bajdabajdagmail.com> Subject: Constructions with Preposition 'after'
Dear Colleagues,
I am presently working on so-called after-perfects in Celtic languages. These are constructions which follow the pattern [‘be’ + Subject + ‘after’ + Verbal Noun]. The passive variant has a possessive pronoun congruent with the subject placed before the verbal noun. The verbal noun enjoys very high status in Celtic languages in the absence of infinitives and participles in most of them. The after-perfect construction has slightly differing meanings in particular languages. In Welsh its meaning is more or less compatible with that of the English perfect. On the other hand in Irish its use is much more restricted, confined, at least in some dialects, to the expression of recent past.
I have found a similar construction in Russian which is of extremely low use and the nominalization used is of the oblique type as verbal nouns in Russian are not functional as in Celtic.
I would like to find out whether similar constructions (perhaps not at all grammaticalized or even of extremely low use as the one found in Russian) exist in any other languages outside the Celtic group. I would greatly appreciate any information concerning this type of constructions.
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