[Lexicog] Words that are absent

shenanzhu at YAHOO.COM shenanzhu at YAHOO.COM
Thu Mar 23 08:36:42 UTC 2006


Mongolian has no word for 'privacy'... some awkward construction could  be conjured up to explain the notion, but there is no single word in  the language for the concept.
  
  -Andrew

Wayne Leman <wayne_leman at sil.org> wrote:              The Cheyennes, one of the most well-known of the   North American Native American tribes, have no word for "tribe." They simply   refer to each tribe, including themselves, by that tribe's name.
   
  Wayne
  -----
Wayne Leman
http://committed.to/fieldtesting
  David,

I     work with a highly individualistic group in Panama (also in Colombia). For the     most part, foreign ideas such as those we are faced with in translating the     Bible can be communicated. But since you are looking for cases where the     culture dictates the lack of certain words, I have one. The individualistic     Emberas have no word for "group". They have plenty of words for activities     that groups do, they differentiate collective and individualized plural number     and so on, but no word for "group".

-Chaz MOrtensen                
        
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