Re: Vocabulary concept mismatches
From: | Javier BF <uaxuctum@...> |
Date: | Friday, March 5, 2004, 13:19 |
>For one thing, Sangari eyes
>aren't eyeball-shaped; they're more like birds' eyes.
[...]
>Zaara has green eyes. Vyziimiden sai Zaara izhilma.
>
>vy-ziimi-de-n sai Zaara i -zhilma
>3p-green-DN-PF NOM.PL (name) POSS-iris
>DN=Direct observation, Non-past
>PF=Perfective
Are their eyes tetrachromatic like those of most birds, too?
I mean, that would grant you the possibility of having lots
of colour names in Tirelat referring to visual experiences
well beyond the range of common human abilities, given that
tetrachromats are expected to experience eight basic colour
perceptions instead of only six like most of us: white/black
+ blue/yellow + red/green + unknown1/unknown2. Some birds
(like doves) are thought to be pentachromat, so they might
possess two pairs of extra basic chromatic perceptions.
Some of the extra colours are located in the ultraviolet or
infrarred range, so not only richer rainbows but wider ones.
Cheers,
Javier
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