Re: kinship terms (was Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin_
| From: | Adam Walker <dreamertwo@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, December 13, 2001, 11:33 |
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>From: Anton Sherwood <bronto@...>
>Date: Wed, 12 Dec 2001 22:23:25 -0800
>
>Cheng Zhong Su wrote:
> > Many lingust have studied the kinship names. Someone
> > point out that some islanders,
>
>Islanders? That's terribly vague. Wouldn't it be better to have one
>word for `people of a volcanic island', another word for `people of a
>coral atoll', another for `people of an island connected to mainland by
>continental shelf', and so on?
>
You forgot to differentiate for latitude (arctic, temperate and tropical at
the very least!) climate (arid, simi-arid,
so-much-rain-you-can-swim-in-the-mud) size, and habitability. *g*
>Is there a word in any language for "father's second wife's former
>husband's adopted daughter"? I doubt it -- and yet I can say it with
>the limited vocabulary of English.
>
Well, there *should* be such a word. YAUL (yet another unnamed linguist)
for Lesser Exutrania has proven that .068% of all people have desperate need
of this word exactly once in their lifetime. I propse llita as the oral
action for this desperately needed concept. And hitara would therefore mean
"father's second wife's former husband's adopted daughter's nextdoor
neighbor's gardener." (But only on Thursdays.)
Adam
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