Zompist Bboard Again

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 8:01 pm

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 6:51 pm Perhaps, just speculating, something like "The honored and sacred number one [or two]"?

It's a dead language, so it may well have been recorded very early, by someone not trained as a linguist. (That set was sent to me, so I don't have the original source.) So someone trying to elicit '2' maybe got something like 'the number 2' or 'second finger' or whatever.

But equally possible, it's something grammatically required in the language, for whatever reason. As an analogy, Dungan Chinese has yigɨ lyongɨ sangɨ for 1/2/3. The gɨ is not mysterious; it's a measure word that's got affixed to the numbers.

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 4:32 pm People were talking about shortening number names in the Conlang Random Thread, so naturally I got to wondering what the longest natlang names for numbers are.

I'm just eyeballing this, but it's close enough:

1 (N Nambilkuara) – naĭúkənadaiş̌
2 (Kuwama) – parkatangkenʸ
3 (Bororo) – ure póbe ma jéw metúya bokwáre
4 (Chaap Wuurong) – pūlīt whummin bā pūlīt whummin
5 (Wathawurung) – bulatj-ba-bulatj-ba-kuimatj
6 (Hamtai) – feca hatuanga akapu hatuanga fati
7 (Moro) – ðέέnaŋ náŋáƚḿέñ́έ gáɽijan
8 (Enga) – mange-lao-waketau
9 (Bunabun) – ambentavdji’rukənem
10 (Mesem) – bainimbegere baje delang

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 8:01 pm But equally possible, it's something grammatically required in the language, for whatever reason. As an analogy, Dungan Chinese has yigɨ lyongɨ sangɨ for 1/2/3. The gɨ is not mysterious; it's a measure word that's got affixed to the numbers.

malloc wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 9:20 pm Obviously those are all from different languages. Nonetheless, I must wonder how those languages count things with any degree of efficiency. Imagine trying to translate Neunundneunzig Luftballons into Mesem.

Raphael wrote: ↑Sun Aug 30, 2026 6:51 pm Perhaps, just speculating, something like "The honored and sacred number one [or two]"?

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:38 amThis reminds me urban legends about how when Europeans first tried to ask indigenous people from some given part of the world what X was called they responded with Y which was not the term for X in their language and said Europeans did not realize this.

And then he told me
"Angikhulumi isingisi
Unaye umhumushi?
Yeka ukuklabalasa"
Well, I couldn't speak his language, I couldn't even understand a word
But I knew his meaning was what I decided I had heard

jal wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2026 10:25 am

Travis B. wrote: ↑Mon Aug 31, 2026 8:38 amThis reminds me urban legends about how when Europeans first tried to ask indigenous people from some given part of the world what X was called they responded with Y which was not the term for X in their language and said Europeans did not realize this.

"Kangaroo" comes to mind, which supposedly meant "I don't know" in some indigenous Australian language.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2026 11:09 pm Back when I studied Japanese in middle and high school, I specifically pronounced what is written in romaji as ⟨r⟩ as a lateral flap, but when I see it described in most contexts I see it being referred to just as a flap, without any mention of lateralness or at most mention that it is sometimes lateral. I know some people on this board are familiar with Japanese ─ do any of you pronounce this consistently as a lateral flap?

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2026 10:38 pm I know when Linguoboy was on here amongst other things he knew both Standard German and IIRC some Swabian variety.

KamareKitsune wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:57 am Does anyone happen to know if any research has been done on the origins of interrogative words, and if so, where I might find anything written about it?

KamareKitsune wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:57 am Does anyone happen to know if any research has been done on the origins of interrogative words, and if so, where I might find anything written about it?

hwhatting wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:12 amBy the way, does anyone know what's going on with Linguoboy and why he doesn't show up here anymore? I miss him.

jal wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 6:11 am

KamareKitsune wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:57 am Does anyone happen to know if any research has been done on the origins of interrogative words, and if so, where I might find anything written about it?

Cross-linguistically?


JAL

bradrn wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 6:34 am

KamareKitsune wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:57 am Does anyone happen to know if any research has been done on the origins of interrogative words, and if so, where I might find anything written about it?

Well, one often-noted commonality is that interrogatives are often very similar to indefinites, or more generally demonstratives. For this I refer you to Bhat’s Pronouns, which has quite a detailed discussion.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2026 10:38 pm I've spoken in length about my own English here, but do any of the other board members, or any of the family members of the other board members, speak in a highly diglossic fashion, or typically write in a language (excepting English) other than the language they typically speak? I know MacAnDàil is very familiar with Reunionese Creole, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic alongside French and English, and I know when Linguoboy was on here amongst other things he knew both Standard German and IIRC some Swabian variety.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Wed Sep 09, 2026 10:38 pm I've spoken in length about my own English here, but do any of the other board members, or any of the family members of the other board members, speak in a highly diglossic fashion, or typically write in a language (excepting English) other than the language they typically speak?

hwhatting wrote: ↑Thu Sep 10, 2026 2:12 am By the way, does anyone know what's going on with Linguoboy and why he doesn't show up here anymore? I miss him.