[Localization] Suti: Bolivia

Yama Ploskonka yamaplos at gmail.com
Wed Oct 1 19:14:51 EDT 2008


I had much fun visiting an archaelogist friend yesterday, and looking
at his presentation of eras of Tiwanaku history.  Yes, of course it
went right to left!  Nice when someone's medium is his message.

Yama

On 9/30/08, Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Chris,
>
> Thanks for the links! Fascinating info. Its going to be a challenge to
> write an Aymara version of my roadmap presentation :-)
>
> One of the most brain changing things I read in college was Mbiti's
> African Conception of Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mbiti and
> http://mindphiles.com/floor/teaching/timeafr/timeafri.htm)
>
> The actual text is very hard to find but well worth a read if you can
> get it.
>
> In short, time means different things to different people based on their
> cultural and linguistic background. That was a surprise to me and it
> taught me to appreciate the multiplicity of possible perspectives.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg S
>
> Chris Leonard wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 9:48 AM, Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Yama,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the report and great work.
>>>
>>> I have a low priority question for you.
>>>
>>> How is "name" - "suti" used in Aymara? Is the same word used for people
>>> and things? Do people have one "suti" or more (e.g. first, last middle,
>>> etc). Do you use different names depending on who is speaking and the
>>> relationship between the speaker and the person they are speaking to?
>>> How do they separate Proper Nouns from other nouns (like XO from
>>> computer or Boston from city)?
>>>
>>> Any other interesting aspects of how people using Aymara think and use
>>> the concept of "name"?
>>>
>>> I could probably look this up on the Internet, but I thought you might
>>> have some insight based on your first hand experience.
>>>
>>> Not important for the roll out or the software. Just for my own
>>> edification and joy of learning.
>>>
>>>
>> Greg,
>>
>> I am no Aymarista and I can't answer you question about nomenclature in
>> Aymara, but it will be very interesting to see how certain concepts about
>> time will be translated.  Apparently Aymara (along with Quechua) are among
>> the few languages/cultures where the past is seen (and gestured) as being
>> in
>> front of you (as opposed to behind you).
>>
>> The wikipedia article on Aymara mentions some very interesting and unique
>> features of this linguistic heritage, such as ternary logic (not binary),
>> and the interest it has drawn from people like Umberto Eco and others.
>>
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aymara_language
>>
>> http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2005/feb/24/4
>>
>> http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060622/news_7m22aymara.html
>>
>> cjl
>>
>


More information about the Localization mailing list