MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - International Party! (a thread for lovers of languages)

travger · 08-08-2010, 07:35 AM

Very interesting thread, thank you!

I heard somewhere that iroquais has 14 ways to... what you do with verb. In addition to usual 6 - I-you-s/he + plurals, it has forms that imply 'everyone does, but I do not', 'everyone does, and at least one of them is woman'... It totally amazed me.
Mindset HAS to be different to have evolved a language that needs to point out actors' sex and numbers in every activity.

And some loose connections:

I (english)
hai = yes (japanese)
jaa = yes (estonian)
ja = I (russian)

08-08-2010, 07:35 AM	#135
travger Evangelist Posts: 485 Karma: 270594 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: palm tx, Windows7, Galaxy A5	Very interesting thread, thank you! I heard somewhere that iroquais has 14 ways to... what you do with verb. In addition to usual 6 - I-you-s/he + plurals, it has forms that imply 'everyone does, but I do not', 'everyone does, and at least one of them is woman'... It totally amazed me. Mindset HAS to be different to have evolved a language that needs to point out actors' sex and numbers in every activity. And some loose connections: I (english) hai = yes (japanese) jaa = yes (estonian) ja = I (russian)