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Devil Lu Linvega

I've had had on my mind R. W. Kimmerer's writing on the Grammar of Animacy, in which she says that 70% of words in Potawatomi are verbs, as opposed to English in which only 30% are. Through the lens of an animist language, the hill is less there, than there is occupied at being a hill. She puts it succinctly in "A bay is a noun only if water is dead".
wiki.xxiivv.com/site/now

8 comments
MarkRDavid

@neauoire

That resonates! And could be a fruitful frame of mind to get into while writing.

Reminds me of something I read about the Irish once, may have been Roddy Doyle. Instead of saying, "I am sad," they say "A sadness comes upon me."

MarkRDavid

@neauoire

Never heard of E-Prime until today - but it looks fascinating. Thanks!

poetaster

@neauoire so, are state changes observed? Frozen bay? Another question, are you guys in the north now (heading to nanaimo on the 4th)...

Devil Lu Linvega

@poetaster we've just reached the tip of vancouver island, we're not there yet, but we can see it. We'll overnight in a bay just north of queen charlotte strait and head to Port McNeil tomorrow weather permits

Kat

@neauoire This isn't entirely incompatible with something I realised about the Spanish hacer and the German machen.

When translated to English, they match both "to make" and "to do." So far, so well known.

But if you match those verbs to the English "to realise," as in "to realise a vision" then you get something a little deeper. Whether an action or a state of being, it has been (will be, would be, etc.) realised.

I love the poetry of it.

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