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Animal plurals/collective nouns (was Re: Re:irregularconlangs)

From:R. Nierse <rnierse@...>
Date:Wednesday, October 6, 1999, 7:33
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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