T
Thekla
Guest
If it is not too OT, if I may go on a bit ...
In college, I had a friend who was the son of immigrant native Irish speakers (first language). They used mostly English with him, but their English was heavily influenced by Irish. He recalled, as there are not (at least indigenously developed) words in Irish for "yes" or "no", they rarely if ever answered "yes" or "no" - and how frustrating this was for a kid growing up in the States
He described a bit of the structure of the language for me ...
for example, "ownership" is not expressed by a verb (I have a shoe), but by a preposition describing proximity (there is a shoe at me). I don't know if it is understood this way, but I remember thinking how almost ascetic that manner of expressing ownership seemed.
End personal silliness
In college, I had a friend who was the son of immigrant native Irish speakers (first language). They used mostly English with him, but their English was heavily influenced by Irish. He recalled, as there are not (at least indigenously developed) words in Irish for "yes" or "no", they rarely if ever answered "yes" or "no" - and how frustrating this was for a kid growing up in the States

He described a bit of the structure of the language for me ...
for example, "ownership" is not expressed by a verb (I have a shoe), but by a preposition describing proximity (there is a shoe at me). I don't know if it is understood this way, but I remember thinking how almost ascetic that manner of expressing ownership seemed.
End personal silliness
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