This is basically correct for Chinese. The form of the verb doesn't change with tense, person, etc. The verb is always "be" or "go" or whatever; normally you find out who does the verb from the word order and when from the context. It is very easy to leave out the context if you want to insert some creative ambiguity into a discussion.... My knowledge of Chinese is too limited to know to what extent this affects worldview and philosophy, but language does shape thoughts (otherwise there would not be concepts that are impossible to translate).
Chinese also has a limited set of possible sounds (even with the different tones), and originally almost all words were one or two syllables. So there are many, many homophones (same sound, different meaning), and Chinese love to exploit these in puns.
The general idea that Mostali lacks verbs that involve change (or verbs at all) is interesting but weird. Definitely worth thinking about, but I have to get back to work right now!
Jeff
Dr. Jeffrey T. Freymueller Office: 907-474-7286 Geophysical Institute Fax: 907-474-7290 University of Alaska, Fairbanks Home: 907-479-3550 PO Box 757320 Cell: 907-322-7632 Fairbanks, AK 99775-7320 email: jeff_at_giseis.alaska.eduURL: http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Input/jeff/jeff.html
Download Alaska GPS data: http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/Input/akda/
Powered by hypermail