Re: deixis

Nik Taylor wrote:
>
> Fabian wrote:
> > Please, dont tease me like that! Have you got any concrete examples, ideally
> > with some comprehensive nline references. Heh, i dont ask much do I?
>
> I forget what book I read that in.  If I remember the source, I'll give
> you the examples.
Found it!  :-)  Tlingit (a Native American language) distinguishes
between ja'a (V' = V-acute), "this one right here", he'i, "this one
nearby", we'e, "that one over there", and jo'o, "that one far off".

Isthmus Zapotec has ndi' ('=glottal stop) for "near the speaker", nga,
for further away, and nge for "out of sight".  It also has ndica' which
refers to the same space as nga but can be used to distinguish two
objects therein.

Eskimo is supposed to have some 30 forms (tho I wonder if this is
another "snow" type myth) expressing things like "that in there", "that
high up there", and "that unseen".

(Three different sources, incidentally)

--
"It's bad manners to talk about ropes in the house of a man whose father
was hanged." - Irish proverb
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