<html>
  <head>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
  </head>
  <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    <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">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
      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; font-variant-ligatures: normal;
            font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-caps: normal;
            font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates:
            normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight:
            normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
            orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
            white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;
            border-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect:
            none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
            <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;
                font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-caps:
                normal; font-variant-numeric: normal;
                font-variant-alternates: normal;
                font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-weight: normal;
                letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2;
                text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space:
                normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; border-spacing:
                0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none;
                -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">
                <div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
                  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:
                                                    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 style="margin:
                                                    0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"
                                                    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>
                    </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="">
                                      <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: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="">
                                                          <div dir="ltr"
                                                          class="">
                                                          <div dir="ltr"
                                                          class="">
                                                          <div dir="ltr"
                                                          class="">
                                                          </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                          </div>
                                                        </div>
                                                        <div
                                                          style="margin:0cm
                                                          0cm 0.0001pt"
                                                          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 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 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">-- 
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

</pre>
  </body>
</html>