Re: Nanitozo

On Wed, 02 May 2007 16:29:32 -0700, Don Kirkman wrote:

It seems to me I heard somewhere that John R. Yamamoto-Wilson wrote in
article <59q436F2l6aqrU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:

aesthete8@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

When I searched an online dictionary, the English equivalent given was
'please.'
But isn't a more accurate translation, 'I beg of you'?

Phil Yff replied:

A more literal translation would be, "If it's possible" or "Could you
possibly..." Nanitozo means something to the effect of "by some means or
other".

aesthete said:

Interesting.

Then how about, "In some way..."?

Are you talking about the literal meaning or the illocutionary force?
Usually translators are interested in the illocutionary force (how to
express a similar idea to the original), not in a literal translation.

Some Kind Soul really needs to run this thread through a spell checker:
Find: illocutionary Replace with: elocutionary

It's not a misspelling, it's a linguistic term. It was originally coined
by John Alston, a famous linguist, over fifty years ago. Here's a recent
reference that I recommend:

http://www.amazon.com/Illocutionary-Sentence-Meaning-William-Alston/dp/0801436699

Phil Yff
.

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