Re: experimental crocodile phonology questions

On Fri, 22 Oct 2004 20:57:03 -0000, caeruleancentaur
<caeruleancentaur@...> wrote:
> I am presuming from the context that, by "sentient," you
> mean "speaking" as opposed to ordinary crocodiles that cannot speak.
>
> In reality, the word "sentient" does not mean that.  It means
> either "conscious" or "experiencing feeling or sensation."  Thus,
> ordinary crocodiles are, indeed, sentient.
I've seen the word "sentient" used as a synonym of "self-conscius",
i. e. "aware of _ego_" a lot. That's common use in science fiction,
along with the much less common "sapient".

> P.S. When the Buddhists speak of the Buddha saving all sentient
> beings, they are not referring just to humans, but to all animate
> life.
I was thinking, "how can a non-self-conscious animal be saved?",
when I realized that reaching salvation (Nirvana) implies abolishing
self-consciousness. Could you elaborate?

ObConlang:
I'm also remembering the character in (Delany's?) _Babel-17_ who
had no awareness of self (or the 1st/2nd/3rd person split for that
matter). Has somebody tried a conculture/conlang without that
distinction?

--Pablo