Re: Tepper's Shadow's End

On Mon, 4 Nov 2002 12:19:41 -0500, Yoon Ha Lee <yl112@...> wrote:

>I've been reading Sheri S. Tepper's _Shadow's End_, which has some nifty
>ideas and some execution I'm not too fond of--in any case, one of the
>settings involves Dinadh, which has a language that intrigues me.  I'm
>wondering if she devised it from scratch or if it's derived from
>something--I'd guess Native American, of which I have no knowledge.  :-(
Good guess. I know that Navajo's self-designation is Dine, and most of the
Athapaskan (or Athabaskan) languages of Alaska and Canada use some
similar self-designation.

>Gods mentioned are Weaving Woman, Brother and Sister Rain, Daylight Woman.
>   Names mentioned include Saluez, Hallach, Dzibano'as, Hamam'n, Damnabi,
>Chacosri.  Place-name: Simidi-ala (the Separated Place).  A ceremony
>called Tahs-uppi (Tasimi "our borders," plural possessive, Tahs probably
>"end" or "limit," uppas, uppasim, uppasimi).  There's some indication of
>active? case-marking ("Choosen, intrinsic...in our language we wouldn't
>say the rain chooses to fall.  It just naturally falls").
The names certainly have a sort of generic Athapaskan quality to them.
The inclusive-exclusive distinction is interesting, though I can't say if it is
a feature of any Athapaskan language.

Bfowol
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Dreaming permits each and every one of us to be quietly and safely insane
every night of our lives.   -Charles Fisher