[Lexicog] sit vs. sit

[Wayne Leman]

I'm having a mental block right now as I am working on the Cheyenne lexicon.
As I file entries I often include a semantic domain keyword. This keyword
allows me to extract all lexical entries for a specific semantic domain,
such as all words having to do with cutting, or horses, or weather.

I already have a semantic domain keyword of 'sit.' It is used for all verbs
which have stem morphology marked that the subject is an animate being that
is sitting (or, more generally, being at a location, typically in some form
of sitting). The English word 'sit' seems natural enough for me to be the
semantic domain keyword for these verb stems.

Now, in Cheyenne, as in its sister languages of the Algonquian language
family, there are also verbs corresponding to the preceding class, but which
have an inanimate entity being at a location. I've been checking my
dictionaries and I *think* the English word 'sit' is also used for semantic
states of inananimate entities "sitting." For me, the English word "sit"
somehow does not sound as natural for this class of verbs which take
inanimate subjects (and stem morphology which registers the fact that there
is an inanimate subject).

Regardless of my English intuitions on naturalness about 'sit' used with
inanimate subjects, I need some other semantic domain keyword so I can
differentiate the two verb classes and extract verbs of one or the other,
when desired. I can, of course, use some dummy keyword such as "xyz", but I
find it easier to remember my semantic domain keywords if they bear some
resemblance to "reality."

For the time being I am using an abbreviation "sit inan" for the second
class of verbs, but I'm wondering if any of you who are not having a mental
block while reading this message (or at least not when you started reading
it!) might have a suggestion for another English word which sounds natural
when used to describe inanimate objects which "are at", e.g.

"The box is on the table." (Cheyenne uses a single verb for "is on".)
"The house is in a nice location." (Cheyenne uses a single short verb for
"be in a nice location.")
"It's jello (a verb stem composed of two parts, literally, 'quiver-be.at')
etc.

If you need to sit (ahem!) on this for awhile, feel free, but any
suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Wayne
-----
Wayne Leman
Cheyenne website: http://www.geocities.com/cheyenne_language



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