Monday, March 12, 2007
Naik
Any discussion of Toratan vocabulary seems to require that someone make the observation that whereas Indonesian has one word naik, Toratan has different verbs for entering a vehicle or house (rumasoh), climbing a tree (maawit), climbing a mountain (I forget), etc. I've heard this at least 20 times now. Eventually I had to say that this was something weird about Indonesian, and other languages also have special words for the different meanings of naik. Dudes, there are plenty of interesting things about Toratan, but this isn't particularly one of them.
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Actually, Indonesian has several too 'naik' for houses, stairs or cars, 'memanjat' for trees, ladders and basically anything that requires some effort and 'mendaki' for mountains. I noticed too that the English word 'to break' has to be translated differently if the object is a plate, a wooden stick or a computer (pecah, patah, rusak). Some languages are rich with these things with some having more word choices than other languages at times and the other way around at other times. However, what Indonesian languages lack are new words to keep up with modern times and a self-esteem and understanding that regional languages, traditions can coexist with modernity. My two cents.
Very nice articles you have. Reading them, makes me really want to visit North Sulawesi at some time. Must be an adventure traveling through villages. I'm also very interested in how languages work and so interested how linguists do their job. So keep up with these logs!:)
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