Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Vocabulary building

From:Roger Mills <romilly@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 20, 2001, 17:50
From another (ahem, serious) list, I received the following inquiry, which
might be of conlang interest, too, as it covers areas of vocabulary often
overlooked.  Obviously if your conpeople are not anthropoid, some entries
may not apply (as "earlobe" DNA in Kash).  As will be noted, Kash vocab.
doesn't yet cover everything, and I don't have time to go thru the process
whiile doing email.  For some of these there would presumably be purely
medical terms as well as popular.

"...a typological study of
the way in which terms for minor body [parts]  and bodily effluvia are
lexicalized,
expanding on the work done by David Wilkins (1996) in similar semantic
domains.  I am especially interested in which terms have a monomorphemic or
literal gloss and which are multimorphemic and/or figurative."

List One:  Minor Body Parts  (KASH)
concept: anus
form:  pacelum (tech.term; no doubt vulgarisms based on paci 'hole')
literal gloss: compd. of paci 'hole' and shelum 'behind'

concept: ankle
form:
literal gloss:

concept: bellybutton
form:
literal gloss:

concept: bone
form:  trako
literal gloss: monomorphemic

concept: bruise
form:
literal gloss:

concept: earlobe
form: DNA
literal gloss:.  ear: shikun; also compd. ekacikun 'leaf of the
ear'(ekam-shikun)

concept: gall bladder
form:
literal gloss:

concept: knee (cap)
form:  ricañ
literal gloss:  knee (the whole thing; no specific word yet for kneecap)

concept: knuckle
form:
literal gloss:

concept: muscle
form: randik
literal gloss: mono.

concept: finger/toe nail
form: ??? possibly kanak
literal gloss: claw

concept: nipple
form: of male: mumuso; of fem. ambuso
literal gloss: derivs. of muso 'breast'

concept: nostril
form:   pacimak
literal gloss: compd. paci 'hole' and imak 'nose'

concept: pupil
form:
literal gloss:

concept: skin
form: hendo
literal gloss:  mono.

concept: wrist
form:
literal gloss:

List Two:  Bodily Effluvia
concept: afterbirth
form:
literal gloss:

concept: bile
form:
literal gloss:

concept: blood
form:  luhu
literal gloss:  mono.

concept: breast milk
form:
literal gloss:

concept: drool
form:
literal gloss:

concept: earwax
form:  possibly neshikun (tech.?)
literal gloss: compd. neyak 'excrement', shikun 'ear'

concept: eye “sand” or “sleep”
form:
literal gloss:

concept: fart
form:  fup (colloq.)
literal gloss:  mono.  Related to fufu (vul.) 'shit'

concept: feces
form:  1. neyak   2. fufu
literal gloss: 1. excrement 2. shit (vul.)

concept: menstrual blood
form:
literal gloss:

concept: nasal mucus (“snot”)
form:  perhaps neshimak, maybe vul. fufimak or fumak
literal gloss:  mono. but irreg. < neyak/fufu  'excrement/shit' and imak
'nose'

concept: nasal blood
form:  probably just: luhu imak
literal gloss:  blood (of) nose

concept: naval peelings (“bellybutton lint”)
form:  (I'm not sure this would afflict the Kash)
literal gloss:

concept: pus
form:
literal gloss:

concept: saliva
form:  perhaps sucimas (tech.)
literal gloss:  compd. sawu 'water' and cimas

concept: semen/sperm
form:
literal gloss:

concept: sweat
form:  suwenik
literal gloss: now mono., but ult. < sawu 'water' and eningar 'the body'

concept: tears
form:  leña
literal gloss: mono.

concept: urine
form:  mishi
literal gloss:  mono.

concept: vomit
form:  yushak (vb.); añushak (n.)
literal gloss: mono.



_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

Replies

taliesin the storyteller <taliesin@...>
Irina Rempt <ira@...>