Re: Animacy in active languages (was Re: Non-static verbs?)

Nik Taylor wrote:

>Well, it's more of a hierarchy of animacy.  A sentient being would tend
>to precede an animal, so "The tiger ate the man" would be "ate man
>tiger" (fakapatíl nlakús latáigal).
Do I detect a trace of Navajo inspiration here?

This is the very feature that first got me interested in Native American
languages in general.  In fact, my Navajo grammar was the first grammar I
bought that wasn't required for a class - and the first non-European.

Marcus