Re: Caste Languages

Eric Norton wrote:
>Out of lurking because this makes me wonder, "where did I run across
>this..."
>Anyone know the name of the natural language which is pronounced
>differently
>based on gender?
>Can't recall where I saw the info.
>Men and women speak with significantly different pronunciation to
>the point
>where, to an outsider, the languages would appear to be dialects.
>Sound familiar or did I dream it?
>
Not a dream.  There are reports of Amer.Indian languages (NW coast
among others, perhaps?) that do this; also some "minor" Indonesian
langs. and surely elsewhere.  Unfortunately I can't come up with any
names just offhand. I do recall that in one, men use [s], women
substitute [h]

There is also the case of the 2-or-more (status) levels in Javanese--
_ngoko_ for everyday use among intimates and to inferiors, _kromo_
used toward supreriors.  The latter gets ramified into e.g. Kromo
desa (village kromo), Kromo madya (mid-kromo) and some others, which
are quite as complicated as "real" kromo.  And I think there's a
level of kromo to use to a king or sultan.  The differences involve
only vocabulary, not grammar AFAIK.

Then there is an Indonesian language called Bare'e, where the
dictionary lists "priestly/shaman language" and "taboo substitutes"
in addition to normal vocab. items.  Those are fairly common.

(This message composed/sent via web-mail; I hope it survives)

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