Re: USAGE: Speak-Say-Tell

Well, in frensh there are two words: 
dire: say, tell
parler: speak, talk
 
Simply, there is a difference between the transitive forms of 
speak, say, and tell.
It is that the object of speak is how you speak.
The object of say is what you say.
The object of tell is to whom you tell.
I speak spanish: means that the way you talk is using the frensh language
I say "spanish": means that the thing you say is "spanish"
I tell the Spanish: means that the person you tell is a Spanish
 
But it is easy to use the same term for the three it is so often the case
that two words exist when one would be enough
spanish: estar/ser: to be
spanish: conocer/saber: to know
frensh: connaître/savoir: to know
spanish: hacer: to make/to
do
frensh: faire: to make/to do
 
english often use words that has a lot of translations in other languages
let's look "to set" that, in different situations, can be translated in 
dozens of verbs and "set" in dozens of nouns.
(when the sun sets, it is not the same thing that when you set the table...)
 
same things with "to get"
frensh translations: rejoindre, avoir, obtenir, se procurer, recevoir, trouver,
 gagner,
attrapper, devenir (these are the only ones I've tought about...)
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Hi,

I was thinking about the English words "speak", "say", "tell" (and
"talk"),
and trying to quantify the exact difference between them.

Specifically, I was wondering whether all the words were strictly
necessary
in a language, or whether you could postulate a language with only one
word
meaning speak, say, tell or talk, depending on context.  How realistic
is
this?

(Kazakh has 3 words: /ajtu/ to speak or tell, /deu/ to say, and /s2jleu/
to
talk, plus the compound /djep ajtu/.)
What about other natlangs?

Geoff