Siouan positional verbs

[Bryan James Gordon]

This discussion has me considering something along the lines of object
permanence.

What I have been told about what David is calling the "sitting" inanimate
determiner in Omaha and Ponca is that it marks "round" things or
"symmetrical" things. And the sense that is coming out of this discussion is
that it has something to do with boundedness and whether objects are really
just that - objects in a permanent sense that have a place in a permanent
sense. Symmetry and "roundness" are very strongly associated with this idea
of object permanence in cognitive psychology - they are primary means
through which humans recognise objects.

Note that in continental Germanic languages "sit", "stand" and "lie" are all
associated with permanent objects in temporary locations, so "sit" would not
be the same sort of thing. (If the Italian David mentions was from the north
of Italy he may have been influenced by that semantic world too.)

But we know the story can't be completely correct. Alongside "hill
the-symmetrical" we also get "hill the-round". Same for lakes. Are lakes and
hills permanent or not? Bounded? I suspect that Dan and Wittgenstein may be
right: it all depends on your perspective and how you're interacting with
them (or how your imaginary character is interacting with them).

- Bryan
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