'Eating', 'drinking' and 'smoking': A generic verb and its semantics in Manambu
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Alexandra Y. Aikhenvald
Abstract
Many of the world’s languages have different forms for the concepts of ‘eating’ (solid food) and ‘drinking’ (liquid). Manambu, from the Ndu family in the Sepik region of New Guinea, has the same verb covering the notions of ‘eating’, ‘drinking’, smoking’ and ‘breast-feeding’. It also refers to destructive processes (‘drowning’ and ‘burning down’), and to the ritual distribution of a mortuary payment. The verb of consumption is similar to a number of general verbs in the language whose semantics is disambiguated by their object arguments. Having one form for all ingestive processes is a feature Manambu shares with many languages of New Guinea. Examples of a similar polysemy outside New Guinea come from a number of Australian languages, all adjacent to each other, pointing towards its diffusability.
Abstract
Many of the world’s languages have different forms for the concepts of ‘eating’ (solid food) and ‘drinking’ (liquid). Manambu, from the Ndu family in the Sepik region of New Guinea, has the same verb covering the notions of ‘eating’, ‘drinking’, smoking’ and ‘breast-feeding’. It also refers to destructive processes (‘drowning’ and ‘burning down’), and to the ritual distribution of a mortuary payment. The verb of consumption is similar to a number of general verbs in the language whose semantics is disambiguated by their object arguments. Having one form for all ingestive processes is a feature Manambu shares with many languages of New Guinea. Examples of a similar polysemy outside New Guinea come from a number of Australian languages, all adjacent to each other, pointing towards its diffusability.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- A cross-linguistic overview of 'eat' and 'drink' 1
- How transitive are 'eat' and 'drink' verbs? 27
- Quirky alternations of transitivity: The case of ingestive predicates 45
- All people eat and drink. Does this mean that 'eat' and 'drink' are universal human concepts? 65
- 'Eating', 'drinking' and 'smoking': A generic verb and its semantics in Manambu 91
- Athapaskan eating and drinking verbs and constructions 109
- The semantic evolution of 'eat'-expressions: Ways and byways 153
- Literal and figurative uses of Japanese 'eat' and 'drink' 173
- What (not) to eat or drink: Metaphor and metonymy of eating and drinking in Korean 195
- Metaphorical extensions of 'eat' --> [OVERCOME] and 'drink' --> [UNDERGO] in Hausa 229
- Amharic 'eat' and 'drink' verbs 253
- Author index 273
- Language index 277
- Subject index 279
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Preface vii
- A cross-linguistic overview of 'eat' and 'drink' 1
- How transitive are 'eat' and 'drink' verbs? 27
- Quirky alternations of transitivity: The case of ingestive predicates 45
- All people eat and drink. Does this mean that 'eat' and 'drink' are universal human concepts? 65
- 'Eating', 'drinking' and 'smoking': A generic verb and its semantics in Manambu 91
- Athapaskan eating and drinking verbs and constructions 109
- The semantic evolution of 'eat'-expressions: Ways and byways 153
- Literal and figurative uses of Japanese 'eat' and 'drink' 173
- What (not) to eat or drink: Metaphor and metonymy of eating and drinking in Korean 195
- Metaphorical extensions of 'eat' --> [OVERCOME] and 'drink' --> [UNDERGO] in Hausa 229
- Amharic 'eat' and 'drink' verbs 253
- Author index 273
- Language index 277
- Subject index 279
