WikiDiscuss

On 6/23/05, John E Clifford <clifford-j@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> --- Jorge Llambías <jjllambias@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Besides, it would be weird to have the basic
> > element
> > indicate excess, and then add {cu'i} for the
> > mean and
> > {nai} for the lack.
>
> But this is just the pattern in most of these:
> one extreme the neutral position and the opposite
> extreme. It is hard to see how else to set up a
> scale.

If we were trying to replicate Aristotle's virtues and vices,
the natural way to set them up would be to have the basic
word for the virtue and then two affixes "excess of" and
"deficit of" for the vices.

The attitudinals are mostly not about "excess of" anything.
The scales are usually X, opposite of X and in the middle
lack of both X and opposite of X.

> The problem seems to be (aside from the question
> of what is expressed here) that there are often
> not good words for the "emotion" involved, though
> there are usually decent adjectives for someone
> in the throws of that emotion — or so it seems
> to me on a brief survey.

My survey of the base VV forms gives one adjective (a'a: attentive)
and 38 nouns. The adjective is the first one, so your survey must
have been brief indeed.

(There are a few more adjectives among the -cu'i and -nai forms,
but hardly enough to make up the difference.)

mu'o mi'e xorxes