Re: Phenomena

>John Cowan:
>> Matt Pearson wrote:
>>
>> > In Tokana I use the verb "kahpa" = "to descend":
>> >
>> >    Kahpa suh    "It's raining (lit. rain is coming down)"
>> >    Kahpa ise    "It's snowing (lit. snow is coming down)"
>> >    Kahpa mohi   "It's foggy (lit. cloud is coming down)"
>> >    Kahpa esie   "It's misty (lit. mist is coming down)"
>>
>> Lojban does that too, although rain is the default.  "carvi" = "[It] rains"
>> most probably refers to water; for snow we say "snow rains".  The full
>> place structure is "x1 rains on x2 from x3", where "the ground"
>> and "the sky" are probably the typical (and unexpressed) values
>> of x2 and x3.
>
>Lojban's not quite the same, because "carvi" = "precipitate", not "descend".
Well, Tokana "kahpa" is probably actually polysemous.  In non-weather
contexts it definitely means "descend, go down", hence its use with
rain and snow.  But I think that in weather contexts it has undergone a
semantic bleaching and now has a more general meaning, since it can
also be used with weather which doesn't really fall from the sky (or is
not *perceived* to fall) such as frost, dew, and humidity.  If you're
standing by a hot springs, you can also say "kahpa humoh" = "it's
steaming, there's steam in the air", even though the steam is clearly
rising.

>> "It's windy" would be expressed as "Lialhopa suhu", literally
>> "Wind is flowing-along-fast".
>
>I can't remember how Lojban does this. IIRC, Livagian has "X is air
>flowing/blowing along path Y". I wonder why Tokana "suhu", "wind" is not a
>verb.
>After all, there's a difference between falling snow and fallen snow,
>but wind is wind only when it is flowing along fast.
Well, "suhu" really means "moving air" or "breath".  In Tokana
ethno-physics, wind/air/breath is perceived as a substance which
moves, rather than a force, hence its lexicalisation as a noun.

Matt.