Re: aspects / nasal consonants / meanings

Henrik Theiling wrote at 2005-03-11 02:09:38 (+0100)
 > Hi!
 >
 > Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> writes:
 > > On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 00:21:31 -0500, # 1
 > <salut_vous_autre@...> wrote:
 > > > Are there natlangs that dont distingish verbs like "to eat" and
 > > > "to drink" and link them in a single word?
 > >
 > > There are certainly some which draw the distinction differently:
 > > for example, in English, you generally "eat" soup, while in
 > > Japanese, you "drink" it AFAIK.
 >
 > 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.

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