Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun linguistics The characteristic of a
noun , in some languages, that is dependent on itsliving orsentient nature; this characteristic affectsgrammatical features (it can modifyverbs used with the noun, affect the noun'sdeclension etc).
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word animacy.
Examples
-
Swahili is attuned to diverse kinds of animacy, even to degrees of animacy.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
-
Nouns of this type are characterized by vitality but not by the same kind of animacy that Swahili-speakers assign to humans or animals.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
-
Swahili is attuned to diverse kinds of animacy, even to degrees of animacy.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
-
Nouns of this type are characterized by vitality but not by the same kind of animacy that Swahili-speakers assign to humans or animals.
The English Is Coming! Leslie Dunton-Downer 2010
-
Strange, I've posted exactly about this pre-Etruscan *i- deictic and its relationship to animacy, ergativity, and PIE *i- before online somewhere Yahoogroups like Cybalist perhaps?
-
Alexey Fuchs: "It seems fairly obvious, that animacy was not the feature that defined gender in PIE."
-
It may have something to do with animacy whereby an inanimate noun (which hil is proven to be in Etruscan due to plural hilχva attested in the Liber Linteus) probably cannot be treated as the subject of a transitive verb and therefore is dethroned to a position after the verb to specify mere agent of the action instead (like a kind of 'afterthought', let's say) while still treated as an unmarked nominative noun.
Archive 2008-04-01 2008
-
It may have something to do with animacy whereby an inanimate noun (which hil is proven to be in Etruscan due to plural hilχva attested in the Liber Linteus) probably cannot be treated as the subject of a transitive verb and therefore is dethroned to a position after the verb to specify mere agent of the action instead (like a kind of 'afterthought', let's say) while still treated as an unmarked nominative noun.
-
By this solution, I'm also suggesting that the case system was governed by an underlying animacy hierarchy1 of definite animate indefinite animate inanimate.
Archive 2008-06-01 2008
-
Your point is correct, but your complaint is moot here because the nature of animacy is not the topic at hand.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.