31.1585, Qs: Seeking superordinate nouns not present in English

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-31-1585. Tue May 12 2020. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 31.1585, Qs: Seeking superordinate nouns not present in English

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Date: Tue, 12 May 2020 19:26:30
From: Lilia Rissman [lilrissman at gmail.com]
Subject: Seeking superordinate nouns not present in English

 
Hello LinguistList!

I'm researching superordinate nouns (e.g., fruit, mammal, food) and how they
vary cross-linguistically. I am looking for examples of superordinate nouns
that don't have a close translational equivalent in English. For example,
Jahai has been argued to have a term meaning 'edible thing found in a forest'
but not terms corresponding to English 'plant' or 'animal' (Levinson &
Burenhult, 2009). Does anyone know of other examples? Pointers to the
literature are also welcome – so far I have only seen this type of variability
discussed in a piecemeal way. I am interested in superordinates from any
semantic domain (e.g., natural kind terms such as 'animal,' artifact terms
such as 'tool,' etc.).

Many thanks,
Lilia Rissman

Levinson, S. C., & Burenhult, N. (2009). Semplates: A new concept in lexical
semantics? Language, 85(1), 153-174.
 

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     Cognitive Science
                     General Linguistics
                     Language Documentation
                     Lexicography
                     Semantics



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