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<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">Dear Pål, </font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">dear colleagues, <br>
<br>
The Oceanic languages of north Vanuatu may be relevant to your query. <br>
<br>
Generally 'ambient' and m</font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"
size="+1">eteorological predicates take a noun meaning
"PLACE" as their subject; <br>
thus "it's night" is literally "<i>the place is night</i>"; "it's cold
here" = "<i>this place is cold</i>"</font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">; <br>
</font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">same thing with "it's
a dry place here",
"it's hot", "it's dawn/day/morning/evening", and so on.</font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><br>
</font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><br>
</font>
<div align="right"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>[I'll
use here IPA transcriptions in Unicode; <br>
details on the languages can be found <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/AF-field.htm">on this page</a>; <br>
</small></font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode">a couple of </font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode">references are given below</font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>]</small></font><br>
</div>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small><br>
</small></font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">In <b>Mwotlap</b>
(Banks Islands), the form is /<font color="#333333">mahɪ</font>/
'place, (moment)' (etymologically "empty space"), e.g.</font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"> </font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>mahɪ mal
matap</big></i><br>
place Complete morning<br>
“The day has dawned.” [lit. The place has already dawned]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span class="Examplev"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span></span></font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>mahɪ nɔ-jɔjɔŋ</big></i><br>
place Stative-silent<br>
“There's no noise here.” [lit. The place is silent]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<div align="right"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><br>
</font></div>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">In <b>Hiw</b> (Torres
Islands), the form is /</font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><font
color="#333333">ˈŋʷutə</font>/ 'place'. Thus <br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>nə ŋʷutə
kɵŋ piti</big></i><br>
ART place night Complete<br>
“It's already night.” [lit. The place has already darkened/become
night]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>nə ŋʷutə
ne məwmew tnɪɣ!</big></i><br>
ART place Stative cold very<br>
“It's very cold.” [lit. The place is very cold]<br>
<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span class="Examplev"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span></span></font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">In <b>Araki </b>(south Santo),
the form is /</font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><font
color="#333333">ˈʧaɾa</font>/ 'place, village, country…'
(etymologically from *<i>zara</i> 'village clearing'). <br>
Thus <small>[umlaut stands for linguolabials]</small><br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ʧaɾa mo
v̈aɾuŋ</big></i><br>
place 3sg:Realis hot<br>
“It's hot.” [lit. The place is hot]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span class="Examplev"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span></span></font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ʧaɾa mo
m̈am̈asa</big></i><br>
place 3sg:Realis dry<br>
“It's dry, we're having a heatwave.” [lit. The place is dry]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<div align="right"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><br>
</font>
</div>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">and so on… The other
languages of north Vanuatu will show the same pattern, with different
lexical forms for the word "place".<br>
<br>
As is usual for most patterns that are common in vernacular languages
of Vanuatu, this pattern is also the one used in <b>Bislama</b>, the
English-lexifier pidgin of Vanuatu. Thus:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ples i
kolkol</big></i><br>
place Predic cold<br>
“It's cold.” [lit. The place is cold]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span class="Examplev"><span
style="font-size: 11pt;" lang="EN-GB"></span></span></font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ples i
delaet finis</big></i><br>
place Predic daylight Complete<br>
“The day has already dawned.” [lit. The place is already daylight]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ples i
tudak yet</big></i><br>
place Predic dark still<br>
“It's still night.” [lit. The place is still dark]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"> </font>
</blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><br>
</font>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">Note
however that the pattern is different for "rain". All these languages
express rain events by combining two cognate words as the subject and
the predicate, something like "rain is raining": </font><br>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">Thus in Mwotlap:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>na-sŋ͡mʷal
mɛ-sŋ͡mʷal</big></i><br>
ART-rain Perf-rain<br>
“It's raining.” [lit. Rain has (begun to) rain]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">in Hiw:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>nə wetə
wetə</big></i><br>
ART rain rain<br>
“It's raining.” [lit. Rain is raining]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">in Araki:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>usa mo
re usa</big></i><br>
rain 3sg:Real Perf rain<br>
“It has rained.” [lit. Rain has rained]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">in Bislama:<br>
</font>
<blockquote><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><i><big>ren bae i
ren</big></i><br>
rain Future Predic rain<br>
“It's going to rain.” [lit. Rain will rain]<br>
</font></blockquote>
<font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small><br>
<big>It's also the same pattern for "thunder": <i>Thunder has
thundered</i>… <br>
I can't tell you for snow since there's no snow in Vanuatu! <span
class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :-) </span></span></big></small></font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small><big><br>
</big><br>
</small></font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">best,<br>
Alex.<br>
<br>
</font>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"
size="+1"><small>Some references [the first two can be <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/AFpub_books_e.htm">downloaded</a>]:<br>
</small></font></small>
<blockquote><small> </small>
<blockquote><small> </small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>p.342 of:</small></font></small></li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
<blockquote><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>François,
Alexandre. 2001. Contraintes
de structures et liberté dans l'organisation du discours. Une
description du mwotlap, langue océanienne du Vanuatu </small></font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><big><strong></strong> [<i>Structural
constraints and
freedom in speech elaboration: A description of Mwotlap, an Oceanic
language of Vanuatu</i>]. Doctoral thesis in Linguistics, Université
Paris-IV Sorbonne. 3 volumes, 1078 pages.<br>
</big></font></small></blockquote>
<small> </small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>p.136 of:</small></font></small></li>
</ul>
<blockquote><small> </small>
<blockquote><small> </small>
<blockquote><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>François,
Alexandre. 2005. A
typological overview of Mwotlap. <i>Linguistic Typology</i> 9-1:
115-146</small></font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1">.<small><br>
</small></font></small></blockquote>
<small> </small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<ul>
<li><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>p.237 of:<br>
</small></font></small></li>
</ul>
<blockquote><small> </small>
<blockquote><small> </small>
<blockquote><small><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><strong></strong></font><font
face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="+1"><small>François,
Alexandre. </small></font><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><big>2002. <i>Araki:
A
disappearing language of Vanuatu</i>. <br>
Pacific Linguistics, 522. Canberra: Australian National University.
375 pp.</big></font></small></blockquote>
<small> </small></blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br>
<hr size="2" width="100%">
<div align="right">
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72"><small>Alex François
LACITO - CNRS
7 rue Guy Môquet
F - 94801 Villejuif
FRANCE
tel. prof. +33 (0)1.49.58.37.48.
tel. priv. +33 (0)1.64.46.61.47.
email <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:Alexandre.Francois@vjf.cnrs.fr">Alexandre.Francois@vjf.cnrs.fr</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm">http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr">http://alex.francois.free.fr</a></small></pre>
</div>
<font size="+1"><font face="Book Antiqua"><br>
</font></font>
<hr size="2" width="100%"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:p.k.eriksen@ILN.UIO.NO">p.k.eriksen@ILN.UIO.NO</a>
a écrit :
<blockquote
cite="mid:2548.128.214.199.27.1202991929.squirrel@webmail.uio.no"
type="cite">
<pre wrap=""> Dear colleagues,
I am currently doing research on expletive subjects, and in connection
to that I am very interested in languages where meteorological predicates
("to rain", "to blow", "to be cold/warm", etc.) require, or at least often
occur with a subject meaning "world", "place", "surroundings", "sky", etc,
or which in other ways somehow refers to the locational/geographical
background of the weather phenomena (or even to a temporal background,
like "day") .
Givón (in "Syntax Vol. I", 2001, p. 119) mentions that "the world" is
used as the dummy subject for meteorological predicates in some
languages across the globe, and gives an example from Palestinian
Arabic (where the subject is "dunya" ("world")).
Apart from this observation, I have found a number of examples in
different grammars:
- Nikolaeva & Tolskaya ("A Grammar of Udihe", 2001) shows that in the
Tungusic language Udihe a noun meaning "place outside" or "world" may be
used as the dummy subject for a number of meteorological predicates
(though not by all).
- Watters ("A Grammar of Kham", 2002) shows that in the Himalayish
language Kham a noun meaning "sky" is the meteorological dummy
subject.
- Keenan ("Remarkable Subjects in Malagasy" in Li (ed.) "Subject and
Topic", 1976) mentions that in Malagasy meteorological predicates
normally take a word meaning "day" as their subject.
- Næss (p.c.) has told me that in Äiwoo (possibly Austronesian,
Eastern Solomon Islands) a word most often translated as "surroundings" is
found as a subject for meteorological predicates, and that the
neighbouring Polynesian language Vaeakau-Taumako similarly employs a word
meaning "land".
Still, it is hard to find examples of this phenomenon, mostly because
many grammars don't even address the issue of expletive subjects and/or
the structure of meteorological sentences. Consequenty I would be very
happy for any other example you can give me, of languages with this type
of phenomenon.
Many thanks in advance,
Pål Eriksen </pre>
</blockquote>
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