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

From:Sally Caves <scaves@...>
Date:Thursday, June 17, 2004, 18:56
----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Trinsic" <trinsic@...>


> > From: Jörg Rhiemeier <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?
One talks to inanimate objects all the time; it's called "apostrophe." O more than moon! Draw not up seas to drown me in thy sphere! (okay, the moon's a woman in Donne's poem, but there are plenty of other examples. O tempora!) And sometimes they talk, especially in riddles where they ask you to guess them; then it's called prosopopoeia.
> 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 ;)
I love the idea! But what use would it serve? A compelling human tendency is to animate everything. "The tree likes to be watered every other day." In addressing the letter you're writing, you would be treating it as a hearing thing. I suppose it would make sense in a language that has animate/inanimate gender instead of masculine/feminine gender. Curious: what natural languages genderize the second person? You feminine singular as opposed to you masculine singular? Sally scaves@frontiernet.net http://www.frontiernet.net/~scaves/contents.html

Replies

James Worlton <jworlton@...>
Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>