[Lexicog] News time

[John Roberts]

Re. "time" and other languages/cultures I have a puzzle with the Amele 
(Papuan) language. On the one hand, the language has several ways of 
segmenting "time". For example, there are four past tenses/aspects and two 
future tenses that can be marked on the verb. There are words for "today", 
"one day past" and "two days past". There are words for "one day future", 
"two days future", "three days future", "four days future" and "five days 
future". The expression for "future" is *hibna* which is literally 'at the 
back' or 'behind'. There are expressions for different kinds of times or 
seasons, such as *cabi saen* 'planting (lit. garden) time', *jec saen* 
'harvest (lit. eating) time', *cam saen* 'dry (lit. sun) season', *cahel 
saen* 'famine', *han saen* 'war time', *malol saen* 'peace time'. But the 
puzzle is that the Amele word for "time" *saen*, is borrowed from the 
neighbouring Gedaged (Austronesian) language. There is no other word for 
"time" in the language. How come a language borrows the expression for a 
concept so central to its grammar and lexicon from another language?

John Roberts




 
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