--- Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
> > Because we understand what is entailed, while
> a H
> > speaker will not. He'd probably know what a
> > message is, but not what an email is. His
> > messages are hacked into clay and baked
>
> A slightly unreal scenario, I think.
And presenting a Hittite speaker with an email
exchange is slightly more real? ;)
> I don't understand
> why anyone would want to do this?
It's an intellectual exercise. You know, a what
if.
> And surely by fixing the Hittite vocabulary at
> what we
> have recovered and reverting to (strange)
> circumlocutions,
> we are re-enforcing the erroneous notion of
> "primitive
> language" that Paul was arguing against.
Who said anything about "fixing" the H
vocabulary? We've added three virtual words to it
in this exchange!
> >> We've plundered Greek and Latin in order to
> >> extend our vocabulary,
> >> and borrowed 'chimpanzee' from some west
> >> African source. I am not
> >> aware of any evidence that Hittite couldn't
> >> have similarly extended its vocabulary.
> >
> > Apparently so! I thought the whole point of
> > John's comment was to make the thing
> > understandable for a speaker of an ancient
> > language.
>
> That is _not_ how I understood Paul's reply to
> Gary;
I don't know. I'm going on the premise that "this
email" can be translated (comprehensibly) into
any ancient or modern language; to which John
replied that H has no word for email; to which I
replied that one can easily be fashioned. Hope
that straightens it out!
> I assumed John was simply making the
> observation that
> Hittite would have to have these vocabulary
> items for
> Paul's translation to be made.
Quite. That's why I "made" some new H words to
help us along!
> > Not just providing a loan word that
> > fits the phonology. I guess if all you want
> is a
> > simple loan, I suggest iimeyallas.
>
> _I_ want nothing. I was merely making the
> observation that
> it is my belief that all natlangs have the
> resources to
> adapt and extend their vocabulary.
Sure. I'm only helping the process along!! I
guess a H speaker might call it his equivalent of
"thingamabob" or "whatsit" - I'm only suggesting
that there are easy ways to overcome his lack of
(modern) vocabulary.
> Nor, if you read my
> mail properly, did I ever say the only way to
> do this is
> by having loan words which fit the phonology
> (as, e.g.
> 'chimpanzee' in English).
Never said that was the only way. My first
suggestion was to give him a word that could be
understood by his limited technology (like how
"iron horse" came to be). That idea was shot
down.
> Languages have a variety of
> ways of extending vocabulary; I do not see why
> Hittite
> should be any different in this respect.
I agree. In what ways have I violated this notion
AT ALL? None that I can see!
Padraic.
=====
â-dim peresatî Zarathustrô: ko-nare ahî? yim azem vîshpahe aŋhêuš
astvatô sraêštem dâdaresa.
â-dim prcchat Jarathustrah: ko nara asi? yam aham vîśvasya âsoh
asthivatah śrestham dadarśa.
ççoç peparcti Çaratostariyyas: his hanaras ossta? icom acâ,
alohostanoççexomes, takam maxamâsanar a-hawisesâ.
-- Yasna ix
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