Re: Hot, Cold, and Temperature

I don't have anything to add from my languages, but I did come across something
rather unique in a language I was looking at in my phonology class from fall
quarter. Now, I forget the language, but there was a particular suffix that had
a strange function (I'll make up data to show how it worked):

-kana = ???

puno = dog
punokana = big dog

sotu = bear
sotukana = small bear

kuma = pencil
kumakana = long pencil

tosi = branch
tosikana = short (in length) branch

What relates all these?  The answer is...

-kana = a suffix which denotes that something is the opposite size of what one usually expects

Neat, huh? So when you're talking about thin objects, the meaning is either short or
long. When you're talking about objects that aren't thought of as thin, then
the meaning is big or small. And, of course, the meaning is entirely based on
the word. But, further, I would expect that meaning would *also* depend on the
speaker. Maybe a small child thinks of dogs as usually big, and not usually
small, and so "punokana", to them, would mean "small dog".

Anyway, I basically borrowed this into one of my conlangs. And I don't think it would
necessarily have to relate only to size (though in the case of the natlang, it
did). So, you could use the same suffix to get "hot water" and "cold soup".

-David

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