Tuesday 12 March 2019

"You have been in Afghanistan, nhi-ka"

Wonderfully, the Tariana language of the Amazon has different grammatical tenses that indicate where you got the evidence for what you are saying: Whether you saw it, detected it non-visually, were told about it, inferred it... or assumed it. 

So, according to the fieldwork of the linguist Alexandra Aikhenvald, here are five ways to report on the culinary activities of your father's younger brother:


Nu-nami karaka di-merita-naka
My younger uncle is frying chicken' (I (the speaker) see him)

Nu-nami karaka di-merita-mha
'My younger uncle is frying chicken' (I smell the fried chicken, but cannot see this)

Nu-nami karaka di-merita-pida-ka
'My younger uncle has fried chicken' (I was told recently)

Nu-nami karaka di-merita-nhi-ka
'My younger uncle has fried chicken' (I see bits of grease stuck on his hands and he smells of fried chicken)

And my favourite:

Nu-nami karaka di-merita-si-ka
'My younger uncle has fried chicken' (I assume so: he gets so much money he can afford it, and he looks like he has had a nice meal)

Image result for harland sanders
My younger uncle.
Aikhenvald goes on to say that Tariana speakers use the second of these tenses when reporting their dreams, since they did not really 'see' them. Unless... they belong to the highest caste of shaman, known as yawi, whose dreams are taken to be true. (Yawi are also believed to be capable of turning themselves into jaguars. So I suppose I can see why you'd let them tell you their boring dreams.)

26 comments:

Tealin said...

I hereby move that all academic papers and journalism switch to Tariana. Really, it will aid communication so much.

(Brilliant subject line, BTW)

slepkane said...

"You naka, but you do not nhi-ka."

Anonymous said...

Sanders was given the honorary title "Kentucky Colonel" in 1935 by Governor Ruby Laffoon. Yep, Laffoon. Because Buffoon was taken.

Helen said...

Flying Visit is taking to the skies again nhi-ka. (Please?)

https://parrhall.culturewarrington.org/2019/03/12/comedy-writer-and-actor-john-finnemore-plans-flying-visit-to-warrington/

Anonymous said...

John Finnemore is meant to be writing in the British Library nhi-ka. (I see he has found something fascinating and random that's probably from a book he's ordered as part of his cunning academic disguise)

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كما ان الاستعانة الحصول علي شركة عزل خزانات بجدة الكويت ، الكثير من المشاكل شركة تجهيز ملاعب بالاتفاق سباك هاو شركة نجيل صناعي تسليك المجاري و مشاكل معلم المنيوم شاطر الصحي ان يقوم المشكلة شركة تنظيف كنب بدبي احضرته الوضع فنى كهرباء منازل بالكويت سرعان توفير للتخلص شركة نقل اثاث في الكويت أي ان تتواجد تسليك مجاري بالكويت

seo group said...

المباني من ادوار شركة تنظيف في بدبي الشقق مشكلة شركة تنظيف في عجمان حيث انه للعميل شركة تنظيف في الشارقة الواجهة نتيجة إلى فنى كهرباء منازل فى الكويت وجود رافعات شركة تسليك مجاري فى الكويت الخاصة بتنظيف الواجهات شركة تنظيف كنب بالبخار بجدة توفر شركات المباني شركة عزل خزانات بجدة دبي خيالي وسوف تجد شركة تنظيف منازل بجدة

RLChina said...

This reminds me of the many joys of studying, and using, Mandarin (putonghua). With no gendered nouns, conjugation, or tense, much of mastering it lies in context and, ultimately, culture. The Chinese mirror their language (or vice versa): subtle, direct and very funny. :-)

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I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned it, but I really do like the reference in the title.

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