Native American verbs vs. nouns

[David Kaufman]

Hi all:

Thanks for your responses--I've kept copies of your emails and references so
that I may do some further research.  Just a couple more thoughts I had:

As with many aspects of linguistics, there is a lot of theory but how much
can really be proven?  (We're really dealing with the brain, and who knows
exactly how the brain works, even with all our modern technology?!)  Even
though I'm just starting (hopefully!) my career as a linguist, I think we
need to be careful when we examine another language's grammatical structure
from our own native language perspective (i.e., English).  (The fact that we
have to use language (specifically our OWN language) to analyze language can
create circular arguments!)  Perhaps what is labeled a NOUN or a VERB in one
language is never quite the same as in another.  One comment made was that
Hidatsa and similar languages simply lack a copula, so the noun is acting as
copula because that's the only way they can do it.  But, if we extend our
thinking beyond the box of English grammar, we could just as logically
"re-interpret" the Native construct on a different thought level--perhaps
they perceive "talling" in the sense of it not being a state as it appears
to us in English "The man is tall"--end of story--but perhaps they view
"tall" as a process--focusing on the continual process of growing taller.
In this way, these languages could be considered closer to reflecting
"reality" better than most European languages, since they could perceive
someone as being in a constant state of flux and change, which is the "real"
physiological reality!  This is why I wonder if speakers of these languages
might be more in tune to nature and thinking in processes (being more
fluidly verb- and process-oriented) and this is reflected in their language.
  Perhaps it would be interesting to get a bilingual Native American
speaker's perception on this: how do they really perceive this in English
vs. their own way of thinking in their own language?  Is there actually a
different thought process at work reflected in the language, OR is it indeed
just a different way of stating the same thing?

Has anyone asked Native American speakers about this??  Just curious.

Dave






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