In a message dated 10/24/2004 7:21:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
bpj@MELROCH.SE writes:
>Other candidate categories for animacy are:
>-- Spirits and gods (naturally).
>-- Heavenly bodies (these are gods to the speakers!)
>-- Fire.
>-- Water.
>-- Weather phenomena.
>-- Metals (the only more odd category that has suggested itself to me.)
>Can anyone suggest more possibly animate categories, preferably with
>explanation why they would be considered animate?
How abut plants that can turn to face the sun?
You already have "heavenly bodies," but I'll mention that I read that these
are grammatically animate in some North American languages beacuse they move
without evident external cause (and not because they are necessarily viewed as
divine).
Body parts of humans and animals are a possibility.
I have a conlang in which books are grammatically animate, on the grounds
that books are capable of using language and thus belong in the class with people.
Doug