Omaha fricative set

[Koontz John E]

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006, Koontz John E wrote:
> Isn't this the 'flying squirrel' term?

Not intended to be a joke, by the way. There is such a terminological
distinction in some Siouan languages, and, of course, there is such a
beast, though I personally have never seen one outside of the Rocky &
Bulwinkle Show.  They really just glide.

As far as using related roots for birds and flying squirrels, we also find
this for owls and moths (and bats?), which fly at night, and for owls and
tree ducks, which both live in holes in trees.  Folk taxonymy is a whole
different way of looking at things, if you've been raised to think
Linnaean schemes are universal.  There are strange examples in
Indo-European languages, too.