<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content=text/html;charset=UTF-8>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2963" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Dear Alan, dear all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>I am an Austronesianist/Oceanist specializing in
the Oceanic languages of north Vanuatu -- as well as the languages of Vanikoro,
spoken in the easternmost Papuan-speaking area (Temotu/ Santa Cruz,
Solomons). </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>The languages I have data on <FONT size=1>(<A
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/AF-field.htm">full list here</A></FONT><FONT
size=1>) </FONT>all distinguish 'eat' (generally a reflex of POc
*<EM>kani</EM>) from 'drink' (generally <POc <EM>*inum</EM>), as well as
'hungry' from 'thirsty', or 'eat' from 'smoke'<EM>. </EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><EM><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT></EM> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>However, it is common for them to lexify in the
same way '<EM>eat</EM>' and '<EM>burn</EM>', the latter always with 'fire' as
its subject -- </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>e.g. "My house has been burnt" will be Lit.
'<EM>My house, fire has eaten it</EM>'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2> "He died in
a fire" => Lit. '<EM>A fire ate him dead</EM>'</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>In this case, 'eat' may be either transitive (the
fire consumes s.th. or s.o.) or intransitive ("the fire's eating" = it is
lighted).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>However, unlike Ku Waru, 'eat' cannot be
used with other subjects than the fire, to translate the causative/agentive
meanings of Eng. 'burn' (e.g. <EM>They burnt my
house</EM>)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>As far as I can remember, I found the same
polysemy in Teanu, spoken on Vanikoro. <FONT size=1>[a language supposedly
Austronesian, but which might be in fact Papuan (?)]</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>If this case of "colexification" (as I call it)
of 'eat' and 'burn' is common in PNG and in north Vanuatu, of course it would be
interesting to know if this is also the case in the area in-between (i.e.,
Eastern PNG + Solomons) -- in which case this would be a nice case of a lexical
isogloss encompassing a large area of the Pacific.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Alex.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=right><FONT face=Verdana size=2>********</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=right><FONT face=Verdana size=1>Alex François<BR>LACITO - CNRS<BR>7
rue Guy Môquet<BR>F - 94801 Villejuif<BR> FRANCE<BR>tel. priv. +33
(0)1.64.46.61.47.<BR>tel. prof. +33 (0)1.49.58.37.48.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=right><FONT size=1></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=right><FONT face=Verdana><FONT size=1>email <</FONT><A
href="mailto:Alexandre.Francois@vjf.cnrs.fr"><FONT
size=1>Alexandre.Francois@vjf.cnrs.fr</FONT></A><FONT size=1>><BR></FONT><A
href="http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm"><FONT
size=1>http://lacito.vjf.cnrs.fr/membres/francois.htm</FONT></A><BR><A
href="http://alex.francois.free.fr/"><FONT
size=1>http://alex.francois.free.fr/</FONT></A></FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Message d'origine ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>De
:</B> <A title=alan.rumsey@anu.edu.au
href="mailto:alan.rumsey@anu.edu.au">Alan Rumsey</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc :</B> <A
title=papuanlanguages@anu.edu.au
href="mailto:papuanlanguages@anu.edu.au">papuanlanguages@anu.edu.au</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Envoyé :</B> mercredi 13 septembre 2006
15:20</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Objet :</B> Re: [Papuanlanguages] 'Eating
water' and elsewhere: a summary</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Verdana size=2></FONT><FONT face=Verdana
size=2></FONT><BR></DIV>A further twist on all this eating and drinking:
as I have pointed out to Sasha, in Ku Waru (Western Highlands Province, PNG)
the verb for 'eat'/'drink' (<I>no</I>-)is also the ordinary word 'burn' (in
both the intransitive/unergative sense and the transitive/causative one). I
would be interested to know how widespread <I>that </I>pattern is. If you have
information to offer about this, please post it to the whole list as Martin
has suggested.<BR><BR>Alan<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE
cite=midA89F82520EE98A4597C52FCB5B6B5C1E01463EE4@EXCHANGE.ltu.edu.au
type="cite"><PRE wrap="">Les Bruce commented:
'A comparative semantic study of such concepts would be interesting. This summer I have been collecting samples from different languages for concepts for hair (head and body hair), feathers, fur, and grass. Pidgin uses gras for all of these referents. How about starting a database for semantic typology to map different concepts around the world? I'd be interested.'
We would be, too!
Very best wishes
Sasha
<P><HR></PRE></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P></P>_______________________________________________<BR>PapuanLanguages
mailing
list<BR>PapuanLanguages@anu.edu.au<BR>http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/papuanlanguages<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>