Re: Article wierdness

Mark J. Reed wrote:

>On Sat, Sep 11, 2004 at 10:30:38AM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
>
>
>>Doug Dee scripsit:
>>
>>
>>
>>>If I recall my French correctly, the usual way to raise "Raise your
>>>hand," is "Levez la main" literally "Raise the hand," even though
>>>most of us have two hands, so that perhaps "Raise a hand" would seem
>>>more logical.
>>>
>>>
>>This is why I keep arguing that the French
>>
>>
>
>/Spanish/Italian/etc
>
>
>
>>"definite" article isn't
>>really definite any more; it's been bleached of most of its definiteness
>>and serves mostly as the default determiner, the one that applies when
>>there is no specific reason to use anything else.
>>
>>English though is notable for its insistence on redundant possessive
>>determiners:  "He put his hands in his pockets" is the only idiomatic
>>way of saying that, even though it's obvious that people normally
>>put their own hands in their own pockets.
>>
>>
>
>This entire area is ripe with idiomatic differences.  For instance,
>the Spanish for "The girls all washed their faces" is literally
>"The girls all washed the face".  Note the singular, because each girl
>has only one face.
>
>-Marcos
>
>
>
You're right about the singularity, but in Spanish 'lavar'  is reflexive
with own body and own body parts
me lavo  =  I wash myself
te lavas =  You wash yourself
se lava = He wahes himself
me lavo la cara =  I wash myself the face
te lavas la cara = You wash yourself the face
se lava la cara =  He washes himself the face

objective with other people's bodies or body parts
te lavo = I wash you
me lavas = You wash me
le lavo = I wash him
te lava  = He washes you
te lavo la cara = I wash you the face
me lavas la cara =  You wash me the face
le lavo la cara  = I wash him the face
te lava la cara = He washes you the face

levantar is reflexive for one's body
me levanto =  I raise myself
te levantas = You raise yourself
se levanta  = He raises himself

but not for one's body parts
levanto la mano  = I raise the hand
levantas la mano  = You raise ....
levanta la mano  = He raises.....

Objective for another's body
te levanto = I  lift  you
me levantas = you lift me
lo levanto =  I lift him

Objective or possesive for another's body parts
te levanto la mano
levanto tu mano
me levantas la mano
levantas mi mano
le levantas la mano
levantas su mano

David Barrow