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> Van: Christophe Grandsire <grandsir@...>
> Aan: Multiple recipients of list CONLANG <CONLANG@...>
> Onderwerp: Re: Animal plurals/collective nouns (was Re:
Re:irregularconlangs)
> Datum: woensdag 6 oktober 1999 8:53
>
> Nik Taylor wrote:
> >
> > Eric Christopherson wrote:
> > > Hey! That reminds me: does anyone know why English has such bizarre
plurals
> > > and collective nouns for animals? A lot of wild animal names seem to
be the
> > > same in the singular and plural, such as buffalo, moose, etc.
> >
> > Well, game animals are regularly made in the plural with no change,
even
> > a word like "duck" is normally used as a plural when speaking of
> > hunting, as in "How many duck did you get?". Apparently an analogical
> > leveling based on "deer" and one or two other common game animals. (A
> > survival in turn of the old gender system?) Besides, everyone knows
> > that "moose"'s plural is "meese". ;-)
> >
> > > I mean things such as a pride of lions, gaggle of geese,
> > > etc. Some of these words are so out there as to make me think someone
> > > invented them to be silly, such as a memory of elephants. But how did
they
> > > reach such currency?
> >
> > Hmm, a closet conlanger making dictionaries? :-) But seriously,
that's
> > a good question. Does this occur in many other natlangs? That is,
> > using odd collectives?
> >
>
> No, French has only a few words for that and most of them are
used in a
> regular way (but I know there are some rare exceptions). Herbivores
> (wild or domesticated) are usually grouped in "troupeaux", canines
> (dogs, wolves) and some other carnivores are grouped in "meutes". I
> don't know the words for the other animals. But I know that on TV
> programs, the people that study lions, or monkeys speak generally of
> "communaute's" (communities!). The only strange example I can find is
> for small birds. One speak of a "vole'e (related to "voler": to fly)
> d'oiseaux".
>
Dutch does the same thing as English. We also use specific names. Is it a
Germanic feature?
> > > Obligatory conlang content: Does anyone's conlang do this? :)
> >
>
> I don't know for most of my conlangs, and I know that Tj'a-ts'a~n
> simply uses a subgender "group" of the genders "human" and "animal".
>
> --
> Christophe Grandsire
>
> Philips Research Laboratories -- Building WB 145
> Prof. Holstlaan 4
> 5656 AA Eindhoven
> The Netherlands
>
> Phone: +31-40-27-45006
> E-mail: grandsir@natlab.research.philips.com