<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>If one wants to account for the use of "animal" in French, one should notice the growing impact of the Antispecist movement. Accused by a well-known leftist politician to make no more difference between warms and humans, Aymeric Caron, founder of the REV (Rassemblement des Ecologistes pour le Vivant) answered in a public debate: "Les animaux non humains sensibles" are those we are fighting for". This new label, "sensitive non human animals", already frequent in ordinary language, has even been used in a recent law of defense of domestic animals. Similar usage-based developments of the <br>category "animals" can probably be observed in other languages.</div><div><br></div><div>M.M.Jocelyne Fernandez-Vest</div><div>CNRS & Université Sorbonne Nouvelle</div><div><br></div><div><br>Envoyé de mon iPhone</div><div><br>Le 14 oct. 2018 à 08:45, Hartmut Haberland <<a href="mailto:hartmut@ruc.dk">hartmut@ruc.dk</a>> a écrit :<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>
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<div dir="ltr">Japanese has 動物 (dōbutsu) which is obviously related to the Chinese term. But what creatures would a Japanese speaker expect to see in a 動物園 ‘zoo’? </div>
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Den 14. okt. 2018 kl. 08.12 skrev David Gil <<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>>:<br>
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<p>Randy,</p>
<p>So which of the items in (1-8) are covered by Chinese <i>dòngwù</i> (動物), ‘moving thing’?</p>
<p>David<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 14/10/2018 03:59, Randy LaPolla wrote:<br>
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Hi David,
<div>The categories as you have them (1-8) reflect certain cultural conceptions, and so won’t be the same for other cultures. For example, in Chinese bats were traditionally seen as flying mice, and lizards were seen as four-legged snakes. </div>
<div>The word in Chinese that we translate as ‘animal’ is <i>dòngwù</i> (動物), ‘moving thing’. </div>
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<div>Randy<br>
<div id="AppleMailSignature" dir="ltr">Sent from my iPhone</div>
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On 14 Oct 2018, at 12:33 AM, David Gil <<a href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>> wrote:<br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Dear all,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"><br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">I am interested in exploring, cross-linguistically, the semantic range of words that correspond more or less to the English word "animal".</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Here are examples of the things that English "animal" refers to:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">1. dog, kangaroo, lizard, frog ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">2. eagle, sparrow, chicken, bat ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">3. bee, scorpion, spider, centipede ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">4. crab, shrimp ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">5. worm, leech ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">6. starfish, jellyfish, squid, octopus ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">7. oyster, clam ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">8. sponge (?) ...<br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">I am looking for examples of languages in which the basic word closest to English "animal" is nevertheless different in its coverage.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>In particular, I would like to find instances — if such exist — of languages in which there is a basic word that covers the examples in 1-4 (or maybe 1-5) to the exclusion of those in 5-8 (or maybe 6-8).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>(Note that the question concerns every-day words that reflect our naive folk biological knowledge, not with scientific terms in those few languages that have such terminology.)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">Some words of background:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>A colleague and I working in experimental cognitive science have found (non-linguistic) empirical evidence for the psychological reality of an ontological category that consists roughly of animals of the kind exemplified in 1-4 (and possibly also 5).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>We are calling this category "higher animals".<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The characteristic prototypical features of higher animals include a single axis of symmetry, the existence of head, torso and limbs, a face in the front of the head that includes sensory organs such as eyes, and a mouth for eating, and the ability to
move forward in the direction that the head is facing. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>A challenge that we face is that, in the (few) languages that we are familiar with, there is no simple word for higher animals.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>But we are hoping that other languages might have such a word.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>in addition, we would also welcome grammatical evidence for the category of higher animals, for example in the form of grammatical rules that are sensitive to the animacy hierarchy by making reference to a cut-off point between higher and other animals.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">I look forward to your responses.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Thanks,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US" lang="EN-US">David</span></p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816
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<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
David Gil
Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
Email: <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816
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