Re: equinox

-----Mensaje original-----
De: Matt Pearson <mpearson@...>
Fecha: Mi=E9rcoles 23 de Septiembre de 1998 17:37
Asunto: equinox


>To all of you in the Northern Hemisphere, a very happy autumn!  And to a=
ll
>of you in the Southern Hemisphere, a very happy spring!
>
And, for we in the tropic... Happy year!  :-D

> (...)
>They also have terms for the different seasons, as we do.  However, the
>Tokana terms are based on the weather rather than the proportion of
daylight
>to darkness, and thus do not have fixed time lengths, but can vary in
>duration from year to year.  There are six seasons:
>
>        alai            hot, dry weather; very light precipitation and
>                        almost no cloud cover; grass turns brown
>                                (=3D mid to late summer)
>
>        mohias          cooler weather; night and morning clouds and
>                        some rain; leaves become tinged with yellow; hea=
vy
>                        pollen in the air
>                                (=3D late summer, early fall)
>
>        lyipas          temperatures drop; leaves change colour and fall=
;
>                        moderate to heavy rain; crisp nights and occasio=
nal
>                        frosty mornings
>                                (=3D mid to late fall)
>
>        tuhsa           cold to freezing temperatures; occasional snow
>                        or rain; frequent frosts and heavy cloud cover
>                                (=3D winter)
>
>        ihmet           rising temperatures and melting snow; heavy
>                        rainfall and heavy cloud cover, with occasional
>                        periods of sun; plants begin to flower
>                                (=3D early spring)
>
>        limias          rising temperatures; fields dry up and plants in
>                        full bloom; increased sun and wind; warm days an=
d
>                        cool nights (or hot days and warm nights)
>                                (=3D late spring, early summer)
>
>This year in Los Angeles, the beginning of fall is corresponding quite
>closely to the beginning of the Tokana "mohias":  The temperatures have
>begun to drop, the nights are a fair bit cooler, and we're having heavy
>cloud cover in the mornings, but it's still pretty dry.
>
>How are the seasons named and delimited in other people's conlangs?
>How about weather terms?  Do people whose conlangs are spoken on other
>planets have any 'exotic' terminology for weather or seasonal changes?
>
I won't mention a conlang here but the use of Spanish in tropical countri=
es.
In common Spanish summer is _verano_, autumn is _oto=F1o_, winter is
_invierno_ and spring is _primavera_.  So, Mexico and Spain are comming i=
nto
_oto=F1o_ and Chile and Argentina are beginning its _primavera_.  Here in
Colombia there is _invierno_, and I don't know when _verano_ is going to
begin.

For us _verano_ are the sunny, dry seasons, twice a year, and _invierno_ =
are
the rainy, wet seasons.  But last year was Ni=F1o fenomemon, and weather =
is
somehow weird.

-- Carlos Th

>Matt.
>
>------------------------------------
>Matt Pearson
>mpearson@ucla.edu
>UCLA Linguistics Department
>405 Hilgard Avenue
>Los Angeles, CA 90095-1543
>------------------------------------
>