Re: Ambiguity

----- "Dirk Elzinga" <dirk.elzinga@...> a écrit :

>
> Unlike others who have posted, I think that--at least in the case of
> the
> obligatory possessives--it is crucial to have a disambiguating
> strategy, if
> for no other reason than to disambiguate the generic use of terms such
> as
> 'mother' or 'baby' from specific referents. Navajo has an indefinite
> possessive prefix which does this sort of thing.
>
I like how Japanese does it: it has two sets of family terms, one to refer to
one's own family, one to refer to somebody else's family. So you say _okaasan_
to refer to somebody else's mother, but _haha_ to refer to your own mother (at
least when speaking to someone from outside your own family. When speaking to
someone of your own family, you'll most likely use _okaasan_ to refer to your
own mother, including when talking to her, unless you're really young, in which
case you can use the word _mama_).

But Japanese is an example of a language that tries to disambiguate as little as
possible, leaving as much as possible to context. Really, it's a language that
shows how far people seem to be able to cope with ambiguity.
--
Christophe Grandsire-Koevoets.

http://christophoronomicon.blogspot.com
http://www.christophoronomicon.nl

It takes a straight mind to create a twisted conlang.