Language subleties (Was: Re: Optimum number of symbols,)

On Thu, May 23, 2002 at 11:47:50PM -0400, John Cowan wrote:
[snip]
> (and pointless)!  (Another example: "I do appreciate" sounds sincere,
> whereas a simple "I appreciate" might be sincere or sarcastic.  Who's to
> know these things outside the L1 community?)
[snip]

Well, I learned some of these distinctions through observation and
experience. (The fact that I think in English might be a factor too...
:-P)

But then again, every language has its own peculiarities which non-L1
speakers have a hard time grappling with. For example, I'm composing my
magnum opus in LaTeX right now -- it is the reference grammar / language
description -- and I'm in the middle of writing the section about stative
sentences. The language uses subtle distinctions between noun cases to
express different attributes, which is really hard to describe (if at all
possible) in an unambiguous way.

One example is the difference between
1)      jub0' d3m3'l
and
2)      jubi' d3m3'l.

_jub0'_ is the originative case of the feminine pronoun _jubi'_; _jubi'_
is the locative case of the same. _d3m3'l_ means "prettiness". (1) is the
normal way a native speaker would say it, "you(fem.) are pretty" --
prettiness being regarded as an expressive attribute, and hence the
pronoun is put in the originative case. (2) is slightly unusual in using
the locative case, which, in this context, indicates *inherent* beauty.

Now, put (1) and (2) together, and change the pronoun in (2) to refer to
another person, and suddenly (1) becomes a sarcastic statement: it is
effectively stating that the woman only has skin-deep beauty, compared to
the other woman in (2) who is pretty on the inside as well.

All this, just from the difference of a single vowel that marks a
different case. Who would have caught it if I hadn't explained it in
detail? (Excluding my conlang's imaginary L1 speakers, that is.)


T

--
Music critic: "That's an imitation fugue!"