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Re: aspects / nasal consonants / meanings

From:Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
Date:Friday, March 11, 2005, 12:19
Hi!

Tim May <butsuri@...> writes:
> Henrik Theiling wrote at 2005-03-11 02:09:38 (+0100)
...
> > Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> writes:
...
> > Well, that may be a difference in habit instead of in language. :-P > > If I eat a soup like a Japanese, I drink it, too. :-))) > > > > The Japanese verb in question is _nomu_, whhich is usually translated > as "drink". However, Takao SUZUKI writes in _Words in Context_: > > | The foregoing structural explanation of _drink_ should also help us > | understand in greater detail the structural significance of the > | Japanese verb _nomu_, which may be defined as "to introduce a > | substance into one's body _without chewing it_". Rice is normally > | something to _taberu_ "eat", but if a fish bone is stuck in > | someone's throat, we say, "You should _nomu_ some rice". This > | demonstrates that _nomu_, unlike drink, has no restrictions at all > | as to the shape or the characteristics of the object, but focuses > | instead on the way it is taken, namely, without chewing.
That's very interesting! After having read that, I realise that Qthyn|gai's word for 'eat', which is a derivation of the generic 'digest' + 'by chewing', must have the same characteristics then! I did not know that my conlang works like Japanese! I did not even mean to contruct a different meaning than 'normal' eating. Funny! **Henrik

Reply

Tim May <butsuri@...>Verbs of ingestion (was: aspects / nasal consonants / meanings)