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

Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...> wrote:
>=20
> 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?
In Spanish there are a lot, but most of them are very rarely
used. From the top of my head:

_jauri'a_ (dogs or wolves)
_bandada_ (birds)
_banco_ (fish)
_cardumen_ (fish) [technical word]
_manada_ (wild animals in general)
_caterva_ (cats) [*very* rare]
_piara_ (pigs)
_yunta_ (two animals of the same kind, esp. yoked oxen or donkeys, etc.)
_nidada_ (all the little birds of the same age in a nest)
_manga_ (locusts)

There are more, esp. for specific animals, but I can't remember them.

Another thing: what about animal noises? Those are quite a few...
Gee, I have to sit down and think about them for Drasel=E9q!


--Pablo Flores
  http://draseleq.conlang.org/pablo-david/