<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">Hi Fritz,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">I am not Ron Moe, but I thought you (and
other lexicographers) might be interested in the short piece on time orientation
below which I recently added to my teachings on tense, aspect and mood. I
gleaned this information form the internet, other lists and my wife. I have
heard that many African languages have a 'back to the future' time orientation
too. It would be nice to have some concrete examples like those illustrated
below. [Apologies if some of the unicode characters do not come out
right.]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS">John Roberts</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=Standard2 style="MARGIN: 6pt 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS">Time Orientation<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"><SPAN lang=EN-US>In a language like English the
perception is that speakers face forward to the future with respect to the time
line and the past is behind them.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>For example, English speakers would typically say they are looking
forward to future events and back to past events. Some headline examples:
<EM>Australians are looking forward to a solar future</EM> and <EM>Look back at
the past week, with our weekly round up of </EM></SPAN><EM><?xml:namespace
prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
/><st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US>Yorkshire</SPAN></st1:place><SPAN lang=EN-US>
Dales News</SPAN></EM><SPAN lang=EN-US>.</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"><SPAN lang=EN-US></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS">But in other languages the temporal orientation is the
opposite way around. The Aymara language spoken in the Peruvian Andes uses
*nayra*, the basic word for ‘eye,’ ‘front’ or ‘sight,’ to mean ‘past’ and uses
*qhipa*, the basic word for ‘back’ or ‘behind,’ to mean ‘future.’ So, for
example, the expression *nayra mara* – which translates in meaning to ‘last
year’ – can be literally glossed as ‘front year.’</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS">In Cantonese the word *hāu* ‘after, back’ is used to
relate to the future and the word *chĭn* ‘before, front’ is used to relate to
the past. E.g *hāu gōh lăi-bāi* back <SPAN style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">CL
</SPAN>week ‘next week’ and *chĭn gōh lăi-bāi* front CL week. Mandarin talks
about the future as down and the past as up. For example, *shang ge
xingqi* (‘up week’ = last week) vs. *xia ge xingqi* (‘down week’ = next
week). Korean and Cambodian are also reported to have a ‘back to the
future’ time orientation.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"><SPAN lang=EN-US>Hebrew and Aramaic also have this
perspective, to some extent. Observe, for instance, Biblical Hebrew *yemei
qedem*, days of old/of long past; the word *qedem* incorporates the root
*q-d-m*, meaning basically ‘to be in front of.’ And every beginning Hebrew
student will know of the prepositions </SPAN><SPAN lang=HE dir=rtl
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE">אחר</SPAN><SPAN
dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN> and </SPAN><SPAN lang=HE
dir=rtl
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE">אחרי</SPAN><SPAN
dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN>, which have a spatial
meaning, ‘behind,’ and a temporal meaning, ‘after, afterwards, in the
future.’</SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"><SPAN lang=EN-US></SPAN></FONT> </P>
<P class=Standard1 style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 3pt"><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"><SPAN lang=EN-US>In Aramaic, the situation is similar.
Something that happened ‘previously’ or ‘a long time ago’ is said to have
occurred *(min) le-qadmin*, using the cognate root *q-d-m* mentioned above; the
preposition *qodam* "before, in front of" is well-known. In early Aramaic, the
root </SPAN><SPAN lang=HE dir=rtl
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-ansi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-bidi-language: HE">אחר</SPAN><SPAN
dir=ltr></SPAN><SPAN lang=EN-US><SPAN dir=ltr></SPAN> is also used to denote
both ‘behind’ and ‘futurity,’ but its use fades in later dialects in favor of
the neologism *bathar* ‘after’ (from b + athar, ‘in place
of’).</SPAN></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT> </DIV><FONT
face="Arial Unicode MS"></FONT>
<span width="1" style="color: white;"/>__._,_.___</span>
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<img src="http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97476590&grpId=11682781&grpspId=1604195911&msgId=3336&stime=1153922477" width="1" height="1"> <br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br><br>
<div style="width:500px; text-align:right; margin-bottom:1px; color:#909090;">
<tt>SPONSORED LINKS</tt>
</div>
<table bgcolor=#e0ecee cellspacing="13" cellpadding="0" width=500px>
<tr valign=top>
<td style="width:25%;">
<tt><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJkcmJ2dmlkBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBF9wAzEEZ3JwSWQDMTE2ODI3ODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjA0MTk1OTExBHNlYwNzbG1vZARzdGltZQMxMTUzOTIyNDc3?t=ms&k=Science+kits&w1=Science+kits&w2=Science+education&w3=Science+kit+for+kid&w4=Cognitive+science&w5=Science+education+supply&c=5&s=119&g=0&.sig=zSDB7r1J9r9-TxtywN4ljw">Science kits</a></tt>
</td>
<td style="width:25%;">
<tt><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJkZjQ5ZjllBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBF9wAzIEZ3JwSWQDMTE2ODI3ODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjA0MTk1OTExBHNlYwNzbG1vZARzdGltZQMxMTUzOTIyNDc3?t=ms&k=Science+education&w1=Science+kits&w2=Science+education&w3=Science+kit+for+kid&w4=Cognitive+science&w5=Science+education+supply&c=5&s=119&g=0&.sig=6lenWu9D4On6VBJy152_ZQ">Science education</a></tt>
</td>
<td style="width:25%;">
<tt><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJkc2hyMHBxBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBF9wAzMEZ3JwSWQDMTE2ODI3ODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjA0MTk1OTExBHNlYwNzbG1vZARzdGltZQMxMTUzOTIyNDc3?t=ms&k=Science+kit+for+kid&w1=Science+kits&w2=Science+education&w3=Science+kit+for+kid&w4=Cognitive+science&w5=Science+education+supply&c=5&s=119&g=0&.sig=r1kgtXSdUHpRZZWiD-Ta2A">Science kit for kid</a></tt>
</td>
</tr>
<tr valign=top>
<td style="width:25%;">
<tt><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJkanUwcTExBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBF9wAzQEZ3JwSWQDMTE2ODI3ODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjA0MTk1OTExBHNlYwNzbG1vZARzdGltZQMxMTUzOTIyNDc3?t=ms&k=Cognitive+science&w1=Science+kits&w2=Science+education&w3=Science+kit+for+kid&w4=Cognitive+science&w5=Science+education+supply&c=5&s=119&g=0&.sig=HxTF0bk8j9GL_XY7cFIfzQ">Cognitive science</a></tt>
</td>
<td style="width:25%;">
<tt><a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJkMmYxNzhmBF9TAzk3NDc2NTkwBF9wAzUEZ3JwSWQDMTE2ODI3ODEEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNjA0MTk1OTExBHNlYwNzbG1vZARzdGltZQMxMTUzOTIyNDc3?t=ms&k=Science+education+supply&w1=Science+kits&w2=Science+education&w3=Science+kit+for+kid&w4=Cognitive+science&w5=Science+education+supply&c=5&s=119&g=0&.sig=0j51VT-dsQbEguImbXirIA">Science education supply</a></tt>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<!-- |**|begin egp html banner|**| -->
<br>
<div style="text-align:center; color:#909090; width:500px;">
<hr style="border-bottom:1px; width:500px; text-align:left;">
<tt>YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS</tt>
</div>
<br>
<ul>
<tt><li type=square> Visit your group "<a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/lexicographylist">lexicographylist</a>" on the web.<br> </tt>
<tt><li type=square> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:<br> <a href="mailto:lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com?subject=Unsubscribe">lexicographylist-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com</a><br> </tt>
<tt><li type=square> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">Yahoo! Terms of Service</a>.</tt>
</ul>
<br>
<div style="text-align:center; color:#909090; width:500px;">
<hr style="border-bottom:1px; width:500px; text-align:left;">
</div>
<br>
<!-- |**|end egp html banner|**| -->
<span style="color: white;"/>__,_._,___</span>
</BODY></HTML>