Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: How to minimize "words" (was "Re: isolating conlangs")

From:Eugene Oh <un.doing@...>
Date:Saturday, February 24, 2007, 2:41
At least three native Chinese speakers, I presume. As for the question
of say vs. express, I think it's because express is a more learned
concept in that 1) children learn say and its meaning first and 2) it
isn't a primary word--it's latinate for one, and is composed of a
prefix plus a primary verb.

Eugene

2007/2/24, David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>:
> Stevo wrote: > << > On the other hand, "WORD" is one of the 60 or so words in NSM, Anna > Wierzbicka's Natural Semantic Metalanguage, which is postulated to > contain only words > which are found in all languages, and which can't be defined more > simply in > terms of other words. > >> > > Do we have any native Chinese speakers on the list? That was > one of the languages where it seemed that the notion of "word" > wasn't as relevant as the notion of "character", which is sometimes > equivalent to the Western notion of "word"; sometimes smaller; > and sometimes larger. Taking a look at the NSM... > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_Semantic_Metalanguage > > ...I see it has a hearing bias, which I suppose can be forgiven ("say" > is primitive, but not "sign". Why shouldn't the primitive simply > be "express", and whether it's done in writing, with speech, or > with hands be a manner adverbial?). The primes "HAVE" and > "WANT" are also not uncomplicated, considering that the English > word "want" comes from a verb which meant "to lack" (and > which still can, in certain contexts), and that many languages > have separate notions of "having". I'm also not impressed with > her sample: 9 languages, two IE languages, no sign languages, > no African languages... Curiously Mandarin is there! I wonder > if she tested how the concepts were realized, or what her criteria > were? > > Anyone want to start a new topic specifically about the NSM > and semantic primes? This is the first I've heard about it. Is > John Clifford on the list? I don't believe he talked about the > NSM in his presentation at the LCC. > > -David > ******************************************************************* > "A male love inevivi i'ala'i oku i ue pokulu'ume o heki a." > "No eternal reward will forgive us now for wasting the dawn." > > -Jim Morrison > > http://dedalvs.free.fr/ >