Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/04

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Even Worse Than Scotches: IE Linguistics (OT)
From: Daniel Bowdoin <danlb@mindspring.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:00:04 -0700
References: <000f01c0bd30$35fe1de0$9600000a@sander>

Sander van Hulsenbeek wrote

>Slovenian language has three differentiations by persons: Singular, Plural,
>> >and Dual (two persons). There are only two other languages in the world
>that
>> >have Dual as well.
>
>And those are?
>
>Indonesian langauges ( Bahasa as a common denominator) have two different
>'we' :
>Kami, being the speaker and the opposite person, and Kita, being we all,
>everywhere.
>
>Is that like what you mean?

Decades (and decades, and decades) ago, a professor of mine, who had
spent his life studying semitic epigraphy, remarked in class that in
Arabic every word has five meanings: its primary meaning, a second
meaning diametrically opposed to that, a special meaning in theology, a
special obscene meaning, and a special meaning related to the camel. I
was greatly impressed by so multi-purpose a language ;-)

Cordially

Dan Bowdoin

Replies: Reply from "Dan Post" <dpost@triad.rr.com> (Re: [Leica] Even Worse Than Scotches: IE Linguistics (OT))
In reply to: Message from "Sander van Hulsenbeek" <vanhulsenbeek@wxs.nl> ([Leica] Even Worse Than Scotches: IE Linguistics (OT))