Pol nulaores,

The semantic primes of Anna Wierzbica are concepts
lexicalized in all languages examined. This does
not mean that there is necessarily a single word
for each concept in each language. It does mean
that there are clear and unambiguous ways to
express the concept even if these are seldom used
due to cultural avoidances.

The goal I have set for myself is to insure that
each prime is simply, clearly, concisely, and
unambiguously represented in NGL. I hope to enlist
your support in this project. To that end I am
reviewing the primes by class in a series of short
posts. I do not intend to replace any previous
usage, I will simply work around it. Here is the
first installment:

The first class for consideration is from the Old
Primitives list for Wierzbicka number (2).

Substantives:

I, YOU, SOMEONE, SOMETHING, PEOPLE.

I {mi, mom}

There is no problem with these two NGL pronoun
representations of the prime, "I". They each say
the same thing.

YOU. {vu, mam}

No problems.

SOMEONE. {wo, ku yergenja, ku yerduin, ku yer-
man}

The ku here is necessary to differentiate SOMEONE
from ANYONE. ANYONE is not a semantic prime.

SOMETHING. {wodin*, ku yerdin}

wodin* is a proposed new word for SOMETHING. I
propose it simply to have a short single word for
the concept. Something, wodin, and ku yerdin all
refer to exactly the same concept, one of the
"indefinables" of the semantic prime set.

PEOPLE. {paoh*, genjas}

Paoh* again has identical meaning to genjas. The
reason for it is that the word for PEOPLE is
universally a singular term. We need a singular
term for PEOPLE to match the semantic prime
findings.

------------------------------------------------

The particle yer- is currently defined as
some/any. Any is not yet a semantic prime.
Nonetheless I propose a word for one of its
senses.

ran* ::- v. to select at random, to draw.

ranwo* ::- anyone
randin* ::- anything



Li ranwo di deur `ol duol 2?

Jerry