[Lexicog] palm trees

Tue May 19 19:12:26 UTC 2009

This fall I'm going to Uganda for three and a half months to attempt(!) to
elicit the emic (emic = the way speakers view things) classification system
of the Ik language. It is remote and for various reasons there has not been
a lot of education in the area. So I am hoping it will be minimally
influenced by outside classification systems. One purpose of this research
is to see where the DDP domains do not fit another language. Eventually I
hope to get enough data to start making judgments on which domains are
universal (if any) and how languages vary. My thesis depends on the
assumption that there are semantic universals and universals of human
experience that influence how various languages conceptualize reality and
experience.

For instance research into color terms reveals a wide variety of lexemes.
But when people are asked to point to a prototypical 'red' or 'blue', they
frequently point to the same square on a color chart. English has its
prototypical 'blood red' 'sky blue' and 'leaf green'. This holds true from
individual to individual and from language to language. If a language has
one lexeme that includes 'blue' and 'green' (what the researchers label
'grue'), people will point to two prototypical squares on the color chart,
one the prototypical blue and the other the prototypical green. Research
into the physics of the eye shows that this is actually determined by the
wavelengths of the light that the cones and rods in the eye can detect. So
there is a physiological basis for these lexical universals.

One implication of this is that a standardized list of domains will be
partly applicable to any language. This is why DDP works well but not
perfectly. DDP is somewhat standardized, but in reality is basically an
English list. What we need is a truly standardized list and an indication of
where languages vary. I liken the need to the role of IPA in phonological
study of particular languages. IPA gets us started, but we then have to do
research and analysis to determine how the phonology of our language works.

Once I've done my research in the Ik language, I will want to describe the
process and results. I'm then hoping other people will do the same sort of
research so that we can compare numerous emic classification systems.

Ron Moe

  _____  

From: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
[mailto:lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Wayne Leman
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 9:10 AM
To: lexicographylist at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Lexicog] palm trees

Greg, if you are attempting to reflect the lexicon of a language, what is
the purpose of using a semantic taxonomy that does not reflect the lexical
relationships of that language?

It seems to me that using an "external" taxonomy to aid English readers
creates a distorted view of the lexical relations within the language, which
includes taxonomic relationships.

By the way, it is not necessary to have superordinate category
classification words in order for a people to have the concept of a semantic
grouping, although it definitely helps. Not every concept that people have
is lexicalized, including in English.

Wayne
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Hi Ron,

I was not thinking of using a vernacular classification because the
vernacular I am studying actually seems to have few classification words of
levels that I can find. Also, I want my semantic domain list to reflect a
likely folk classification of English readers because it will mostly be
English readers who access the (English) sematic domain list. I know you do
not want an English folk classification. Sorry.

<snip>

Regards, Greg

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