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Re: USAGE: Speak-Say-Tell

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Thursday, December 9, 2004, 1:22
Geoff Horswood wrote:
> > 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? >
I'm sure it's possible, though I don't know of any offhand. Indonesian uses two words, principally: kata ('word'): ber/kata to say, to speak (intr.)-- this can be followed with 1. direct quote, 2. indirect speech 3. manner adverb Derivs: mengatakan to tell-- can take either DO or IO memperkatakan to talk about, deliberate (Oddly, the simple active mengata means 'to scold') Short form: kata+possessive, lit. my/your/his~her etc. word = I/you, he etc. said.... The other is bicara: berbicara to speak (intr., or trans. with a language, words etc. as object), or intrans. with manner adverb; membicarakan to discuss To tell a story: specific word, ber/ceritera ~ber/cerita (intr.)