Doug Dee wrote:
> In a message dated 1/19/2004 2:59:52 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> herodote92@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
> >By the way, I wonder if any natlang has markers for left / right
distinction.
>
> In _Explaining Language Universals_, John A. Hawkins says "Speakers
regularly
> have occasion to refer deitically to objects on their left as opposed to
> their right side, and vice versa. Yet deitic systems across languages are
not
> organized on this basis."
>
> Now that I think of it, that is perhaps surprising. Many deitic systems
have
> a near/far distinction, and left/right would not seem any less useful at
> first glance.
>
Inconvenient. You'd need three words:
"over there on the left" (speaker & hearer facing the same direction)
"over there on my left ~ over there on your left" (facing each other)