Guaraní
June 9, 2006
What do cougar, toucan and jaguar have in common? Not much, apart from all being loanwords from Guaraní, Paraguay's second language (its first language being Spanish). "Paraguay" itself is a Guaraní word that means "place of great water", probably because of the numerous rivers and tributaries that criss-cross it. Why am I suddenly interested in Paraguay? Because of England’s first World Cup game tomorrow, of course!
Guaraní on omniglot
Guaraní on wikipedia
Speaking of Amerindian Languages, there is an excellent article in Physorg.com about the Aymara language of the Andes entitled "Backs to the Future" which reminded me of how essential it is to learn body gestures, as well as words when learning a language. See http://www.physorg.com/news69338070.html
As the article points out, it is perfectly acceptable to say "We are coming to the end of the year", or "The end of the year is approaching". I.e., who is moving? Us, or the continuum of time? And from which direction do we picture it coming? Probably we see the future in front of us. Aymara speakers, however, gesture behind them when speaking of the future.
Celine, do you observe any major differences along these lines between French and English?
The only difference I can think of in this respect is the present perfect (example: "I have watched football all week"). We don't have a specific tense in French which is used for an action that started in the past and continues in the present.
Posted by céline on June 14, 2006 9:31 AMPrevious: June 8, 2006
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