[Lexicog] Almost

[Kenneth Keyes]

Ron, et al,

In Qazaq (one of the languages respresented on this list), there is a rarely
used word for "almost", "derlik." However, it more common to use an
adverbial phrase consisting of a reduplication of the verb stem with the
gnomic future -Vr (often called "aorist") and its negation, -MVs e.g.,
zheter-zhetpes, tiijer-tiijmes, bolar-bolmas.etc. E.g. Bazardan alynghan
pajdasyn kuen koeryge zheter-zhetpes. = "The profits taken at the Bazar are
barely sufficient for daily living." Bajdyng ajaqtary uzengige
tiijer-tiijmesten koek bajtal shaba zhoeneldi. = "Just before the rich man's
feet had almost reached the stirrups, the mare started to gallop."

Bolar-bolmas has the the unfortunate connotation of insufficient,
inadequate, irrealis.

Another way to say this is there is "little left"  i.e., "az qaldy."

If you search for the Russian equivalent for almost "pochti" in
Russian-Qazaq dictionaries, you won't find an entry. That is because the
language handles it with an adverbial phrase. Am I correct in calling this
an adverbial? At least it is periphrastic. How should this be added as a
dictionary entry?

Ken

-----Original Message-----
From: Benjamin J Barrett [mailto:gogaku at ix.netcom.com]
Sent: Friday, August 06, 2004 7:25 AM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Lexicog] Almost

In Japanese, there are three concepts for this. One is adverbial such as
almost dry (hotondo), another for the adjective such as almost $1000 (ni
chikai, gurai), and then one for "almost happened but didn't" (tokoro, sou,
etc.) I think you could make an argument to collapse the adverb and
adjective classifications; you might even catch a native Japanese speaker
using the wrong one in a performance error. These are in the near category
(chikai means near). I can't think of any word that covers both of them at
the moment,though.

The almost but didn't seems clearly different, though there are some cases
that might cross such as "almost full" and "almost done".

Benjamin Barrett
Baking the World a Better Place
www.hiroki.us <http://www.hiroki.us>
-----Original Message-----
From: Ron Moe [mailto:ron_moe at sil.org]
Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 5:01 PM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] Almost
I've been analyzing the domain 'Almost'. Longman's Language Activator gives
the primary meaning of the English word 'almost' as 'almost a particular
number, amount, time, age etc.':

'almost $1000' 'almost full' 'almost an hour' 'almost 50 years old'

If this is true, then the other meanings would be secondary:

someone has almost reached some place: 'almost there'
something has almost reached some state: 'almost dry'
something is almost finished: 'almost done'
someone almost did something: 'almost fell'
something almost happened: 'almost overflowed'
something is almost the best/worst (the most extreme example of some
quality): almost the best
something is so similar that it is almost the same: almost human
something is almost some quality: almost perfectly round

This is a nice example of semantic chaining, and one can readily recognize
the semantic links. However does this concept occur in other, especially
non-Indo-European, languages? Does the concept include the range that the
English word has? Would speakers recognize a semantic link between the
translation equivalents of 'almost' in the examples above?

English has a nice set of words in this domain:

nearly, close to, close on, approaching, nearing, getting on for, not quite,
be pushing, just about, practically, virtually, all but, as good as, to all
intents and purposes, verging on, bordering on, more or less, pretty well,
pretty much

Many of these are secondary meanings of movement verbs or words in the
domain 'Near'. It would appear that in English we conceptualize 'almost' via
the metaphor 'move near' or 'be near'. Is this also true in other languages?
In this case is the primary sense the one in 'to almost reach a place'? At
least it seems that this is conceptually the more salient sense.

Ron Moe





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