Re: Birth-related vocabulary?

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:03:07 +0100, Geoff Horswood
<geoffhorswood@...> wrote:

>My announcement post got me thinking.
>How many people have a lot of birth vocabulary in
>their conlangs?  Things like:
>contractions (I don't)
>epidural (I'm not even sure this exists in my most
>advanced conculture)
>IV drip (no)
>heart monitor (I have "heart" and "to watch/to keep")
>foetus (or |fetus| if you insist.  Either way, I don't
>have it)
>to crown (ie for the baby's head to appear) (no)
>placenta (no)
>afterbirth (if this is even a separate word from
>"placenta")
>umbilical cord (no)
>breech presentation (ie coming out bottom-first)
>prenatal/antenatal (no)
>neonatal (no)
>
>A huge vocabulary hole, no?  Hey, I'm not even sure I
>have "to push"!
>
>And if your conSpeakers are not placental mammals, you
>have a whole raft of other possibilities.  Anyone have
>a word for an unhatched bird or reptile?  Is there a
>special word for the neonate of a marsupial that isn't
>really even a full infant yet?
Hmm.  I'll have to work on this.  Currently, Yeltax only has a few terms
describing Xala eggs and chicks (Xala are flying reptiles).  "Egg", itself
is _gogo_.  I keep meaning to make a word for "hatchling" -- but currently I
only have an idiomatic expression of endearment -- _atyegê_, which also
means "small chemical grenade" (lit. "little bomb" many-death-DIM). Also "to
lay (an egg)" is _yoxac_ ("to put, place").

I have come up with Yeltax terms corresponding to biological and cultural
distinctions the development of Kesatans, an amphibious race, which you can
read here --> http://jededag.blogspot.com/2007/06/kesatan-life-cycle.html

Note that I didn't mention that Kesatans (or Xasedla) usually do not
consider their young intelligent beings with rights until they begin to grow
legs -- so natural competition between tadpoles is not interfered with -
even when it has the potential to kill tadpoles (Kesatans lay many eggs due
to high mortality rates of their young).  Also, the Kesatans themselves do
not speak Yeltax, they have a number of signed languages (since their vocal
tract isn't complex enough for anything better than a deep croak).