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    In fact, questionnaires of the sort proposed by Hedvig and endorsed
    by David are the ONLY way in which cross-linguistic research can be
    carried out.<br>
    <br>
    There is no contradiction at all between lists of comparison
    meanings (like David's original list of 8 organism types) and the
    recognition that languages "function" differently.<br>
    <br>
    In order to express how a language "functions" (= in order to
    describe a language), one needs descriptive categories, and these
    may well involve prototypes.<br>
    <br>
    In order to find out what languages have in common, one needs
    comparative concepts (for lexical concepts: comparison meanings,
    e.g. the concept-sets in the Concepticon
    <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://concepticon.clld.org/parameters">https://concepticon.clld.org/parameters</a>).<br>
    <br>
    One should avoid the mistake of thinking that a mapping from
    language facts to comparative concepts is a description, or the
    opposite mistake of thinking that descriptive categories would
    necessarily be useful for comparison.<br>
    <br>
    (Sorry for belabouring this methodological point, but it seems to
    come up again and again...)<br>
    <br>
    Best,<br>
    Martin<br>
    <br>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15.10.18 15:03, David Gil wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote
      cite="mid:f184bc86-4476-2e34-4650-898cc9a52b64@shh.mpg.de"
      type="cite">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <p>In response to the latest posting by Johanna, I think there is
        widespread agreement that the meanings of words exhibit the kind
        of internal structuring that is usefully represented in terms of
        prototypes.  But this does not preclude the need for adequate
        descriptions of what is included — protypically, less
        prototypically, marginally, or not at all — in the extension of
        words such as "animal" and its putative counterparts across
        languages.  And questionnaires have proven to be a useful tool
        for gathering this kind of data — it's quite easy to formulate a
        questionnaire in such a way that it will elicit judgements of
        prototypicality (as opposed to categorical "black-and-white"
        judgements).</p>
      <br>
      <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 15/10/2018 14:49, Johanna Laakso
        wrote:<br>
      </div>
      <blockquote type="cite"
        cite="mid:365A533A-A1E5-456E-A5C6-7354447FE81E@univie.ac.at">
        Dear All,
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">to be honest, I don't believe that languages
          function with clear categories for concepts like "animal".
          More probably, there is something like a prototypical "core"
          for "animalness" (or many of them, if there are many
          categories corresponding to "animal"), surrounded by grey
          zones and depending on contexts, styles, subcultures, etc.</div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">My own anecdotal experience (which first caught my
          attention years ago, when working on a translation job): in
          Estonian, "loomad ja linnud" (‘animals and birds’, implying
          that ‘birds’ are a category distinct from ‘animals’) seems to
          be a pretty frequent expression (more than 60,000 Google
          hits). As a native speaker of Finnish, I find the Finnish
          equivalent expression, "eläimet ja linnut", less natural or
          not as idiomatic and acceptable as the Estonian one; it does
          occur but clearly less frequently than in Estonian (13,700
          Google hits), and according to my intuition, the Finnish
          ‘bird’ is a borderline case – birds might be "animals" or
          "not-animals", depending on context and use. I'm also pretty
          sure that many other Finnish speakers might see this
          differently.</div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">Therefore, I have great doubts concerning the use
          of questionnaires for gathering data. Or, at least, the
          questionnaire should be very carefully planned, to accommodate
          vagueness and fuzzy or overlapping categories.</div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">Best</div>
        <div class="">Johanna</div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class="">PS. Note also that terms for animals in many
          languages are greatly affected by taboos. And that the term
          ‘animal’ in itself is often a derivative (Finnish eläin =
          "living thing", Estonian loom = "creature", Hungarian állat =
          "standing thing") or a result of semantic extension or
          specification (cf. German "Tier" and its Scandinavian cognates
          with English "deer", or the fact that Hungarian "állat" a few
          centuries ago had a more general meaning, something like
          "entity" or "being") and that these developments might be
          connected to cultural changes.<br class="">
          <div class=""> <span class="Apple-style-span"
              style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
              font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal;
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              normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-numeric:
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              font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal;
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              <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
                space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span
                  class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse:
                  separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica;
                  font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal;
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                  font-variant-alternates: normal;
                  font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal;
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                    space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"
                    class="">
                    <div class="">--</div>
                    <div class="">Univ.Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso</div>
                    <div class="">Universität Wien, Institut für
                      Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und
                      Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL)</div>
                    <div class="">Abteilung Finno-Ugristik</div>
                    <div class="">Campus AAKH Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7</div>
                    <div class="">A-1090 Wien</div>
                    <div class=""><a
                        href="mailto:johanna.laakso@univie.ac.at"
                        class="" moz-do-not-send="true">johanna.laakso@univie.ac.at</a>
                      • <a
                        href="http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/"
                        class="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/</a></div>
                    <div class="">Project ELDIA: <a
                        href="http://www.eldia-project.org/" class=""
                        moz-do-not-send="true">http://www.eldia-project.org/</a> </div>
                    <div class=""><br class="">
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
              </div>
            </span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
            <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
          </div>
          <br class="">
          <div>
            <blockquote type="cite" class="">
              <div class="">Hedvig Skirgård <<a
                  href="mailto:hedvig.skirgard@gmail.com" class=""
                  moz-do-not-send="true">hedvig.skirgard@gmail.com</a>>

                kirjoitti 15.10.2018 kello 13.55:</div>
              <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
              <div class="">
                <div dir="ltr" class="">Dear everyone, 
                  <div class=""><br class="">
                  </div>
                  <div class="">Queries like one David posed are often
                    improved via more systematic data collection using a
                    form. I suggested Google Forms because it's one of
                    the most user friendly and familiar interfaces out
                    there where David could set up a questionnaire and
                    collect data on people's usage of words in their
                    respective language, and also get systematic data on
                    exactly what language they speaks.</div>
                  <div class=""><br class="">
                  </div>
                  <div class="">I'm not going to set this up for anyone
                    else or compile the information in this thread, I'm
                    merely suggesting that it a Google Form may be a
                    productive way of going about this. <br class=""
                      clear="all">
                    <div class="">
                      <div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"
                        data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
                        <div dir="ltr" class="">
                          <div class="">
                            <div dir="ltr" class="">
                              <div class="">
                                <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                  <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                    <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                      <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                        <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                          <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                            <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                              <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                                <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                                  <div dir="ltr"
                                                    class="">
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      font-size: 11pt;
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                                                      class=""><span
                                                        style="font-size:9pt"
                                                        class=""><b
                                                          class=""><br
                                                          class="">
                                                        </b></span></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="arial,
                                                        helvetica,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="2"><b
                                                          class="">Med
                                                          vänliga
                                                          hälsningar</b><b
                                                          class="">,</b><br
                                                          class="">
                                                      </font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><b
                                                        class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="2">Hedvig

                                                          Skirgård</font></b></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        size="1"><span
                                                          style="font-family:
                                                          verdana,
                                                          sans-serif;"
                                                          class="">PhD
                                                          Candidate</span><br
                                                          class="">
                                                      </font></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="font-family:
                                                      Verdana,
                                                      Helvetica, Arial,
                                                      sans-serif;
                                                      margin: 0cm 0cm
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                                                      class=""><span
                                                        style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"
                                                        class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          size="1">The
                                                          Wellsprings of
                                                          Linguistic
                                                          Diversity</font></span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="font-family:
                                                      Verdana,
                                                      Helvetica, Arial,
                                                      sans-serif;
                                                      margin: 0cm 0cm
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="verdana,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1">ARC
                                                        Centre of
                                                        Excellence for
                                                        the Dynamics of
                                                        Language</font></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="font-family:
                                                      Verdana,
                                                      Helvetica, Arial,
                                                      sans-serif;
                                                      margin: 0cm 0cm
                                                      0.0001pt;"
                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="verdana,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1">School
                                                        of Culture,
                                                        History and
                                                        Language<br
                                                          class="">
                                                        College of Asia
                                                        and the Pacific</font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="arial,
                                                        helvetica,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1">The
                                                        Australian
                                                        National University</font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="arial,
                                                        helvetica,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1"
                                                        color="#666666"><a
href="https://sites.google.com/site/hedvigskirgard/" target="_blank"
                                                          class=""
                                                          moz-do-not-send="true">Website</a><br
                                                          class="">
                                                      </font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
                                                      0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"
                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="arial,
                                                        helvetica,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1"><br
                                                          class="">
                                                      </font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><font
                                                        class=""
                                                        face="arial,
                                                        helvetica,
                                                        sans-serif"
                                                        size="1">P.S. If
                                                        you have
                                                        multiple email
                                                        addresses, I
                                                        kindly ask you
                                                        to just use one
                                                        with
                                                        corresponding
                                                        with me. Email
                                                        threads and
                                                        invites to get
                                                        confusing
                                                        otherwise. I
                                                        will only email
                                                        you from my
                                                        gmail, even if
                                                        other email
                                                        addresses
                                                        re-direct emails
                                                        to them to my
                                                        gmail (ANU etc).</font></div>
                                                    <div style="margin:
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                                                      class=""><br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </div>
                                                  </div>
                                                </div>
                                              </div>
                                            </div>
                                          </div>
                                        </div>
                                      </div>
                                    </div>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                    <br class="">
                  </div>
                </div>
                <br class="">
                <div class="gmail_quote">
                  <div dir="ltr" class="">Den mån 15 okt. 2018 kl 22:50
                    skrev Assibi Apatewon Amidu <<a
                      href="mailto:assibi.amidu@ntnu.no" class=""
                      moz-do-not-send="true">assibi.amidu@ntnu.no</a>>:<br
                      class="">
                  </div>
                  <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0
                    .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
                    <div style="word-wrap:break-word" class=""> Dear
                      Hedvig,
                      <div class=""><br class="">
                      </div>
                      <div class="">I am not myself into google,
                        twitter, facebook, etc. beyond pressing 'like'
                        buttons. If you wish to put the information on
                        these platforms, too, please, do so, as long it
                        does not distract from David's exploration.</div>
                      <div class=""><br class="">
                      </div>
                      <div class="">Best regards,</div>
                      <div class=""><br class="">
                      </div>
                      <div class="">Assibi</div>
                      <div class=""><br class="">
                        <div class="">
                          <div class="">On 15. okt. 2018, at 13:21,
                            Hedvig Skirgård <<a
                              href="mailto:hedvig.skirgard@gmail.com"
                              target="_blank" class=""
                              moz-do-not-send="true">hedvig.skirgard@gmail.com</a>></div>
                          <div class=""> wrote:</div>
                          <br
                            class="m_-6983009224296648985Apple-interchange-newline">
                          <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                            <div dir="ltr" class="">May I suggest a
                              google form to be spread around facebook
                              and twitter etc?<br class="" clear="all">
                              <div class="">
                                <div dir="ltr"
                                  class="m_-6983009224296648985gmail_signature"
                                  data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
                                  <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                    <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                      <div dir="ltr" class="">
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                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm
                                                          0.0001pt;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"
                                                          class=""> <span
style="font-size:9pt" class=""><b class=""><br class="">
                                                          </b></span></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="2"><b
                                                          class="">Med
                                                          vänliga
                                                          hälsningar</b><b
                                                          class="">,</b><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </font></div>
                                                          <div class="">
                                                          <div dir="ltr"
                                                          class="">
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                                                          </div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
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                                                          class=""><b
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="2">Hedvig

                                                          Skirgård</font></b></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          size="1"><span
style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif" class="">PhD Candidate</span><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="font-family:Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""> <span
style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif" class=""><font class="" size="1">The

                                                          Wellsprings of
                                                          Linguistic
                                                          Diversity</font></span></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="font-family:Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""> <font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="verdana,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1">ARC
                                                          Centre of
                                                          Excellence for
                                                          the Dynamics
                                                          of Language</font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="font-family:Verdana,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""> <font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="verdana,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1">School

                                                          of Culture,
                                                          History and
                                                          Language<br
                                                          class="">
                                                          College of
                                                          Asia and the
                                                          Pacific</font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1">The
                                                          Australian
                                                          National University</font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1"
                                                          color="#666666"><a
href="https://sites.google.com/site/hedvigskirgard/" target="_blank"
                                                          class=""
                                                          moz-do-not-send="true">Website</a><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1"><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><font
                                                          class=""
                                                          face="arial,
                                                          helvetica,
                                                          sans-serif"
                                                          size="1">P.S.
                                                          If you have
                                                          multiple email
                                                          addresses, I
                                                          kindly ask you
                                                          to just use
                                                          one with
                                                          corresponding
                                                          with me. Email
                                                          threads and
                                                          invites to get
                                                          confusing
                                                          otherwise. I
                                                          will only
                                                          email you from
                                                          my gmail, even
                                                          if other email
                                                          addresses
                                                          re-direct
                                                          emails to them
                                                          to my gmail
                                                          (ANU etc).</font></div>
                                                          <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          class=""><br
                                                          class="">
                                                          </div>
                                                        </div>
                                                      </div>
                                                    </div>
                                                  </div>
                                                </div>
                                              </div>
                                            </div>
                                          </div>
                                        </div>
                                      </div>
                                    </div>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                              <br class="">
                            </div>
                            <br class="">
                            <div class="gmail_quote">
                              <div dir="ltr" class="">Den mån 15 okt.
                                2018 kl 21:31 skrev Assibi Apatewon
                                Amidu <<a
                                  href="mailto:assibi.amidu@ntnu.no"
                                  target="_blank" class=""
                                  moz-do-not-send="true">assibi.amidu@ntnu.no</a>>:<br
                                  class="">
                              </div>
                              <blockquote class="gmail_quote"
                                style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
                                #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
                                <div style="word-wrap:break-word"
                                  class="">Dear David and all,
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">Your exploration is very
                                    educative. I cannot claim to be able
                                    to answer your questions, but here
                                    is a take from Kiswahili. In
                                    Kiswahili, the categorization is as
                                    follows:</div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">1. <i class="">Mtu/Watu</i>
                                    'being/s' (Classes 1/2 M/WA)
                                    includes human and other animates.
                                    They are superordniate terms which
                                    subsume (2-3).</div>
                                  <div class="">2. <i class="">Mnyama/Wanyama</i>
                                    'animal/s, ±live' (Classes 1/2
                                    M/WA) , (historically
                                    undifferentiated as<i class="">
                                      nyama/nyama</i> of classes 9/10,
                                    N/N up to ends of the 19th
                                    century) which subsume (3), hence
                                    hypernym to (3).</div>
                                  <div class="">3. <i class="">Mdudu/Wadudu</i>
                                    'insect/s, crawler/s, parasite/s,
                                    and others, ±live' (Classes 1/2
                                    M/WA).</div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">This gives us three
                                    generic terms for referring to
                                    humans, animal, insects and other
                                    species all the way to microbes.
                                    (2-3) are co-hyponyms of (1). These
                                    are not sharp mutually exclusive
                                    categories. Thus, centipede,
                                    scorpion, etc. are also types of
                                     (3), and human, and other animals,
                                    e.g. hippo, can be described as <i
                                      class="">wadudu</i>, or better
                                    still with the augmentative <i
                                      class="">dudu/madudu</i>,
                                    depending on the communication
                                    intention of the speaker, e,g, how
                                    monstrous they perceive the
                                    entity. Returning to your list of
                                    words, they would fall under (1-2),
                                    but specifically under (2) in
                                    everyday usage. For a quick, not too
                                    detailed, discussion, kindly look at
                                    chapter 2 of</div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">Amidu, A. A. (2007). <i
                                      class="">Semantic Assignement
                                      Rules in Kiswahili Bantu Classes</i>. Köln: Rüdiger

                                    Köppe Verlag. </div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">Best wishes,</div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                  </div>
                                  <div class="">Assibi</div>
                                  <div class=""><br class="">
                                    <div class="">
                                      <div class="">On 14. okt. 2018, at
                                        08:11, David Gil <<a
                                          href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de"
                                          target="_blank" class=""
                                          moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>></div>
                                      <div class=""> wrote:</div>
                                      <br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558Apple-interchange-newline">
                                      <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                                        <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF"
                                          text="#000000" class="">
                                          <p class="">Randy,</p>
                                          <p class="">So which of the
                                            items in (1-8) are covered
                                            by Chinese <i class="">dòngwù</i>
                                            (動物), ‘moving thing’?</p>
                                          <p class="">David<br class="">
                                          </p>
                                          <p class=""><br class="">
                                          </p>
                                          <br class="">
                                          <div
                                            class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558moz-cite-prefix">On

                                            14/10/2018 03:59, Randy
                                            LaPolla wrote:<br class="">
                                          </div>
                                          <blockquote type="cite"
                                            class="">Hi David,
                                            <div class="">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 class="">The word in
                                              Chinese that we translate
                                              as ‘animal’ is <i
                                                class="">dòngwù</i>
                                              (動物), ‘moving thing’. </div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            <div class="">Randy<br
                                                class="">
                                              <div dir="ltr" class="">Sent

                                                from my iPhone</div>
                                              <div dir="ltr" class=""><br
                                                  class="">
                                                On 14 Oct 2018, at 12:33
                                                AM, David Gil <<a
                                                  href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de"
                                                  target="_blank"
                                                  class=""
                                                  moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>>

                                                wrote:<br class="">
                                                <br class="">
                                              </div>
                                              <blockquote type="cite"
                                                class="">
                                                <div dir="ltr" class="">
                                                  <div class=""><br
                                                      class="m_-6983009224296648985webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">Dear
                                                      all,</span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"><br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      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>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">Here
                                                      are examples of
                                                      the things that
                                                      English "animal"
                                                      refers to:</span></p>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">1.
                                                      dog, kangaroo,
                                                      lizard, frog ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">2.
                                                      eagle, sparrow,
                                                      chicken, bat ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">3.
                                                      bee, scorpion,
                                                      spider, centipede
                                                      ...<br class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">4.
                                                      crab, shrimp ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">5.
                                                      worm, leech ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">6.
                                                      starfish,
                                                      jellyfish, squid,
                                                      octopus ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">7.
                                                      oyster, clam ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">8.
                                                      sponge (?) ...<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </span></p>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      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
                                                        class="">  </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
                                                        class="">  </span><span
                                                        class=""> </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>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">Some
                                                      words of
                                                      background:<span
                                                        class="">  </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
                                                        class="">  </span>
                                                      We are calling
                                                      this category
                                                      "higher animals".<span
                                                        class="">  </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
                                                        class=""> </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
                                                        class="">  </span>But
                                                      we are hoping that
                                                      other languages
                                                      might have such a
                                                      word.<span
                                                        class="">  </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>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">I
                                                      look forward to
                                                      your responses.<span
                                                        class="">  </span>
                                                      Thanks,</span></p>
                                                  <div class=""><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US"> </span><br
class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558webkit-block-placeholder">
                                                  </div>
                                                  <p class="MsoNormal"><span
                                                      class=""
                                                      lang="EN-US">David</span></p>
                                                  <pre class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558moz-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="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

</pre>
                                                </div>
                                              </blockquote>
                                              <blockquote type="cite"
                                                class="">
                                                <div dir="ltr" class=""><span
                                                    class="">_______________________________________________</span><br
                                                    class="">
                                                  <span class="">Lingtyp
                                                    mailing list</span><br
                                                    class="">
                                                  <span class=""><a
                                                      href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org"
                                                      target="_blank"
                                                      class=""
                                                      moz-do-not-send="true">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a></span><br
                                                    class="">
                                                  <span class=""><a
                                                      href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp"
                                                      target="_blank"
                                                      class=""
                                                      moz-do-not-send="true">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a></span><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                              </blockquote>
                                            </div>
                                          </blockquote>
                                          <br class="">
                                          <pre class="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558moz-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="m_-6983009224296648985m_6965022154629685558moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:gil@shh.mpg.de" target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">gil@shh.mpg.de</a>
Office Phone (Germany): +49-3641686834
Mobile Phone (Indonesia): +62-81281162816

</pre>
                                        </div>
_______________________________________________<br class="">
                                        Lingtyp mailing list<br class="">
                                        <a
                                          href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org"
                                          target="_blank" class=""
                                          moz-do-not-send="true">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br
                                          class="">
                                        <a
                                          href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp"
                                          target="_blank" class=""
                                          moz-do-not-send="true">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a><br
                                          class="">
                                      </blockquote>
                                    </div>
                                    <br class="">
                                  </div>
                                </div>
_______________________________________________<br class="">
                                Lingtyp mailing list<br class="">
                                <a
                                  href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org"
                                  target="_blank" class=""
                                  moz-do-not-send="true">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br
                                  class="">
                                <a
                                  href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp"
                                  rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"
                                  class="" moz-do-not-send="true">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a><br
                                  class="">
                              </blockquote>
                            </div>
                          </blockquote>
                        </div>
                        <br class="">
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </blockquote>
                </div>
                _______________________________________________<br
                  class="">
                Lingtyp mailing list<br class="">
                <a href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org"
                  class="" moz-do-not-send="true">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a><br
                  class="">
                <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a><br
                  class="">
              </div>
            </blockquote>
          </div>
          <br class="">
        </div>
        <br>
        <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
        <br>
        <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Lingtyp mailing list
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a>
</pre>
      </blockquote>
      <br>
      <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 moz-do-not-send="true" 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

</pre>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
      <br>
      <pre wrap="">_______________________________________________
Lingtyp mailing list
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org">Lingtyp@listserv.linguistlist.org</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp">http://listserv.linguistlist.org/mailman/listinfo/lingtyp</a>
</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
Martin Haspelmath (<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:haspelmath@shh.mpg.de">haspelmath@shh.mpg.de</a>)
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Kahlaische Strasse 10   
D-07745 Jena  
&
Leipzig University
Institut fuer Anglistik 
IPF 141199
D-04081 Leipzig    





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