[Lexicog] Unusual Lexical Expressions

[Koontz John E]

The concept of unusual lexical expressions referred to in the subject is
less a generalization of scientific value than a couple of annecdotes
revealing my cultural blinders, but here are a couple of unsual terms I
have encountered in lexical work.  There may be a typology or two lurking
here somewhere.

1) Verbs meaning 'to eat two things together', like meat and vegetables or
bread and jam.  This possiblity was pointed out to me by Allan Taylor, who
discovered it by accident in Blackfoot and later found it elsewhere, e.g.,
in the White Clay People language.  I have noticed a term for this in
Osage, too.

2) Quasi-classificatory terms for 'pet' and terms 'to possess something as
a pet' or 'to possess a living thing'.  This phenomenon - and I am afraid
I am not recalling the details outside of Siouan Winnebago - was
originally reported, as far as I know, by Wick Miller, based on
Uto-Aztecan and other Southwestern data.




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