How things come together: just a few days ago, I actually heard a Passamaquoddy speaker spontaneously use the word "dulse". And as expected, he used it in the plural. Since masses of discrete (typically stringy) objects are consistently spoken of in the plural in this language, rather than the singular used in corresponding English terms like grass, hair, spaghetti, macaroni, rice, and seaweed.
The last of these is presumably a model for dulse-ol, which is what I heard, the -ol being the expected plural ending.
Oh, and yes, I really have heard the plurals spaghettiwol and macaroniwol used hereabouts, the latter while we were at the elementary school cafeteria.
Again, this is what I do.
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4 comments:
this is interesting.
Have you ever heard a word that sounds like Niake, or Nyake ...? Does it mean anything ?
I think I might have...but which language did you hear this in?
this is a name my father called a dog we had--he said it was an old Indian name, (American Indian) probably from New England area in origin; i just wondered what it might mean?
生日快樂, 好朋友!
fat hugs for *you*
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