Re: Word count of minimum vocabulary


"Lee Sau Dan" <danlee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote...

"Robert" == Robert Tichacek <rchoptichacek@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
writes:

Robert> It represents the word for "sun" in the various languages,
Robert> and must still follow the rules of morphology, syntax
Robert> etc. for each language. If it is the idea of "sun", why
Robert> does it take a classifier when written?

So, you mean the characters are ideographs, while the writing
conventions aren't?

Robert> Why does the position of "sun" often differ between
Robert> Mandarin and Japanese? Why would a Kwak'wala speaker
Robert> interpret an initial "sun" as a verb when speakers of the
Robert> listed languages would typically treat it as a noun?

Because "sun" as a verb is a different idea.

Not to your average Kwak'wala speaker, I bet!

[As I understand it, in Kwak'wala sentences like "Sunned yesterday" and
"Brighted the sun yesterday" are both possible, and express essentially the
same idea.]

Even if it actually was "a different idea" when used syntactically as a
verb, so what? The same word often corresponds to several ideas. This
happens in every language. If I write "Sun" on my shopping list (either in
English or Chinese writing), I expect my friend to come back from the shops
with a copy of the newspaper of that name, not a ball of high-temperature
plasma.

(Which is another reason why the "sun" character isn't an ideograph.)

John.


.

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