[899] in tlhIngan-Hol
directional info, schemas
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Mon May 17 23:57:26 1993
Errors-To: tlhIngan-Hol-request@village.boston.ma.us
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Reply-To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
From: zack@netcom.com (Zack T. Smith)
To: "Klingon Language List" <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Date: Mon, 17 May 93 04:33:55 +0200
Resent-From: Michael Everson <EVERSON@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
Resent-To: tlhIngan Hol jatlhwI' <tlhIngan-Hol@village.boston.ma.us>
Errors-To: thorinn@diku.dk
Reply-To: conlang@diku.dk
X-Envelope-To: everson@irlearn.ucd.ie
Here's a post from CONLANG, a list dedicated to Constructed Languages.
How many of these terms are covered tlhIngan HolDaq?
Michael Everson
School of Architecture, UCD; Richview, Clonskeagh; Dublin 14; E/ire
Phone: +353 1 706-2745 Fax: +353 1 283-8908 Home: +353 1 478-2597
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Recently I've decided to look at the problem of adding directional information
to my language, beyond the few easy words such as to, from, upon, surrounding,
comprising, etc. I've been putting off this task literally for years, because
I knew that it might be a bit of a pain. Now that I'm feeling fully up to it,
I have to admit that there appear to be a large number of such words. Some of
them can't be adequately described without a diagram or with a short phrase.
Many require the use of verbs.
I was wondering, has anyone come up with a complete list of such concepts?
Does anyone involved with psycholinguistics know if there might be, say, a
set of well-known schemas that most humans tend to possess concerning object
placement, motion, connection, etc.? Here I'm kind of wondering whether a
minimal list of directional words has been identified that all humans tend
to use, (as with people using only 11 or so basic colors) or whether the
number of such words in use tends to be highly variable.
For instance, do Eskimos have 20 words for "diverging", or does Swahili have 6
words for "on top of"? Note that I'm not looking for conceptually similar
but semantically mixed words; I'm looking for words that offer directional
information only, not other information e.g. social or emotional data.
Here are a few ideas that I've got:
on top of under to the left of to the right of
in the center between during just after
just before amidst prominent/perceivable with
without together apart converging
diverging parallel moving in parallel side by side
moving straight toward moving apart moving straight apart perpendicular
upright flat/level diagonal rising
falling moving left moving right louder
quieter touching squeezed together pulled apart
upside down on left side on right side on its back
face down pushing into balanced imbalanced
stable unstable constant continuous
discontinuous oscillating up-and-down left-and-right
front-and-back motion rolling left rolling right rolling forward
rolling backward turning left turning right moving forward
moving backward near far from midway
one-third of the way two-thirds way stacked sideways row
impacting bouncing crashing on perimeter
marginalized inside outside picked up
left go idle moving branching out
to from passing by passing through
passing by both sides circling alternating shifting
empty full half-empty half-full
Any comments?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zack T. Smith, zack@netcom.com
I'd rather be using FirstClass BBS
My personal anon ftp archive is netcom.com, directory pub/zack
Sel xa du ka zhi wa fek, kon xa kong di su shihn ayadi.
