tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4876582642472373120.post2468076053081910697..comments2021-01-27T04:10:48.544-03:00Comments on Paramaribo SPAN: LinksNicholas Laughlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08636815243848162408noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4876582642472373120.post-32710137997588301382009-08-04T20:46:00.264-03:002009-08-04T20:46:00.264-03:00It is worth noting, given your comment lower down ...It is worth noting, given your comment lower down on the multiple meanings of "span" in English, Dutch, and Sranantongo, that "links" is a word that has different meanings depending on what language is being used. In English, of course, it is a word indicating connection, as in links of sausages, or links on a chain. In Dutch, it is the direction opposite to right.<br /><br />Back when I was an undergraduate taking Use of English at Mona, in what seems like the Old Stoned Age, one of our textbooks (Hayakawas <i>Language in Thought and Action</i> bid us pay attention to the fact that meaning is always contextual. The example used was coming across a scrap of paper on a desert island with the letters "PAIN" on it, and how that would mean very different things if the person who found that scrap were a Francophone or an Anglophone. I think one could create an exercise in cultural communication by bringing a group of people together and just writing the letters "PAN" on the board. One short of SPAN.FSJLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15803079547494458258noreply@blogger.com