Re: 2nd person inanimate (WAS: Numbers from 1 to 12 in Ayeri)

From: "Matt Trinsic" <trinsic@EARTHLINK.NET <mailto:trinsic@...>>
Sent: Thursday, June 17, 2004 12:45 AM
Subject: Re: 2nd person inanimate (WAS: Numbers from 1 to 12 in Ayeri)

 >> From:  Jörg Rhiemeier <joerg_rhiemeier@W <mailto:joerg_rhiemeier@W>...>
 >> Date:  Wed Jun 16, 2004  12:09 pm
 >> Subject:  Re: DRAFT: Numbers from 1 to 12 in Ayeri
 >>
 >> And looking at your Ayeri grammar (to which I found a link in the
 >> ZBB discussion), I hit upon a somewhat bizarre phenomenon, namely
 >> an animate-inanimate distinction in 2nd person pronouns. One doesn't
 >> often talk to inanimate objects; does one need special pronouns
 >> for this purpose?
 >
 >But wouldn't it be interesting to invent a language in which a 2nd
 >person inanimate is useful? Maybe a language where it is used when you
 >are writing a letter? Viewing it as yourself talking to the paper, and
 >the paper later talking to the intended recipient. I am sure there must
 >be other interesting ways of making 2nd person inanimate useful as
well.
 >Or maybe I am just a sucker for bizarre languages ;)

What a luck I encapsulated the second person inamimate pronouns in
<!-- -->* instead of deleting them in the update I made yesterday
evening, after having seen this. Btw, please excuse my bad English in
the original mail.

-- Carsten

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