Last time I wrote, I mentioned something about a "whole whack" of words.
Perhaps it's because I was in the language mode that I noticed it. And I got to wondering. Maybe you know the answer to this one?
How big exactly is a whack? And does anything ever come in a half or a quarter whack?
(Webster doesn't know either. Imagine that!)
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
Language Fun
Well, life certainly got more interesting since Babel. At least I've found it so.
Sometimes I'm amazed to think about how there can possibly be so many ways in the world of saying the same thing. I forget how many, but I think it's close to Lots.
Other times I'm amazed at how two of those ways which seem to have nothing in common can have many similarities. For example, you can have one word that in Language 1 has two quite different meanings (according to good old Webster's), and then in Language 2, of all things you discover a completely different word that carries the same two meanings!
Fascinating...that's my word for it all. For this Expotition I'm on. Fascinating.
A great number of words in my Language 2 have only one syllable. Which sounds like it would greatly limit the amount of possibilities. But when you can hold the vowel for a long or short time, and then have five tones in which the word could be said, that changes the picture.
That means that the word I would have prounouced as "cow" can be said ten different ways. I know completely disconnected meanings for five of those ways, and I'm guessing at least some of the other five have meanings that I have not yet discovered. Yeah.
(Note: Language 1 can say it ten different ways as well, but it pretty steadfastly remains a black and white beast in a pasture.)
There's something about tackling a new language that makes you notice what it's made of. I'm sure Language 1 has this effect as well, but when you've known it since always, I guess you don't notice the pieces as much. But I love some of the ingredients of this language.
One classic is "heart" words. There is a whole whack of them. And they give pictures that make good sense and [even better] make you remember. Here's a sampling:
sad: dead heart
glad: good heart
impatient: hot heart
calm: cool heart
startled: fall heart
satisfied: enough heart
paying attention: standing upright heart
understand: enter heart
trust: place heart
repent: turn heart
So yes, since there are many one-syllable words, when you run out of those, you just string 'em together to create the rest of the words you need (slight oversimplification here). This has taken compound words to a whole new level for me. But hey, they give pictures that make good sense and [even better] make you remember.
fireworks: fire flowers
cold/flu: big cold fever
agree: see also
crayon: colour candle
disappointed: wrong hope
curious: want to know, want to see
towel: cloth wipe body
organs: inside machines
shampoo: medicine wash hair
and one of my favourites...toilet: pull gurgle
And then there are just sensible things. Like having a different word for your paternal and maternal grandparents. That takes care of the need to tack on surnames or invent cutesy alternatives. Handy.
Ah yes...fascinating.
(While wholehearted attempts for accuracy have been made, "ignorance=innocence" is claimed in the event of error.)
Sometimes I'm amazed to think about how there can possibly be so many ways in the world of saying the same thing. I forget how many, but I think it's close to Lots.
Other times I'm amazed at how two of those ways which seem to have nothing in common can have many similarities. For example, you can have one word that in Language 1 has two quite different meanings (according to good old Webster's), and then in Language 2, of all things you discover a completely different word that carries the same two meanings!
Fascinating...that's my word for it all. For this Expotition I'm on. Fascinating.
A great number of words in my Language 2 have only one syllable. Which sounds like it would greatly limit the amount of possibilities. But when you can hold the vowel for a long or short time, and then have five tones in which the word could be said, that changes the picture.
That means that the word I would have prounouced as "cow" can be said ten different ways. I know completely disconnected meanings for five of those ways, and I'm guessing at least some of the other five have meanings that I have not yet discovered. Yeah.
(Note: Language 1 can say it ten different ways as well, but it pretty steadfastly remains a black and white beast in a pasture.)
There's something about tackling a new language that makes you notice what it's made of. I'm sure Language 1 has this effect as well, but when you've known it since always, I guess you don't notice the pieces as much. But I love some of the ingredients of this language.
One classic is "heart" words. There is a whole whack of them. And they give pictures that make good sense and [even better] make you remember. Here's a sampling:
sad: dead heart
glad: good heart
impatient: hot heart
calm: cool heart
startled: fall heart
satisfied: enough heart
paying attention: standing upright heart
understand: enter heart
trust: place heart
repent: turn heart
So yes, since there are many one-syllable words, when you run out of those, you just string 'em together to create the rest of the words you need (slight oversimplification here). This has taken compound words to a whole new level for me. But hey, they give pictures that make good sense and [even better] make you remember.
fireworks: fire flowers
cold/flu: big cold fever
agree: see also
crayon: colour candle
disappointed: wrong hope
curious: want to know, want to see
towel: cloth wipe body
organs: inside machines
shampoo: medicine wash hair
and one of my favourites...toilet: pull gurgle
And then there are just sensible things. Like having a different word for your paternal and maternal grandparents. That takes care of the need to tack on surnames or invent cutesy alternatives. Handy.
Ah yes...fascinating.
(While wholehearted attempts for accuracy have been made, "ignorance=innocence" is claimed in the event of error.)
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