{"id":1201,"date":"2022-02-22T19:12:26","date_gmt":"2022-02-22T19:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/?p=1201"},"modified":"2022-02-24T10:40:16","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T10:40:16","slug":"seasonal-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/2022\/02\/22\/seasonal-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Seasonal thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

As spring slowly but surely begins to announce itself with snowdrops, primroses and daffodils, we may ask how much variation there is in the concept of the seasons from one language to another. As Encyclopedia Britannica<\/a> informs us, \u201cthe seasons\u2014winter, spring, summer, and autumn\u2014are commonly regarded in the Northern Hemisphere as beginning respectively on the winter solstice, December 21 or 22; on the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21; on the summer solstice, June 21 or 22; and on the autumnal equinox, September 22 or 23. In the Southern Hemisphere, summer and winter are reversed, as are spring and fall\u201d.<\/p>\n

Many languages spoken in Eurasia conform to this division into four seasons. But what other options are there? Leaving aside jokes about places where a single season lasts all year round (Russia: white winter<\/em> and green winter<\/em>; Quebec: beginning of winter, end of winter, beginning of next winter<\/em>; New York: almost summer, summer, still summer<\/em>, Christmas<\/em>…), there are languages which really do distinguish between two<\/strong> seasons<\/strong> only: the dry season and the rainy season. Indonesian is like this, having musim hujan<\/em> \u2018rainy season\u2019 and musim kemarau<\/em> \u2018dry season\u2019. In Mandinka (a Mande language spoken in Guinea, northern Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and the Gambia) the seasons are sa\u0300maa<\/em> \u2018rainy season\u2019 and ti\u0300likandi <\/em>\u2018dry season\u2019. In Wolof (Niger-Congo language spoken in Senegal, The Gambia, Mali and other countries) the seasons are naw\u025bt <\/em>\u2018rainy season\u2019 and n\u0254\u0254r<\/em> \u2018dry season\u2019. Rainy seasons stretch roughly from June to October, while dry seasons take up the rest of the year. Two-season languages are generally spoken close to the equator.<\/p>\n

Three-season<\/strong> languages also exist. In Ancient Egypt<\/a> the year was divided into three seasons: Inundation, when the Nile overflowed the agricultural land; Going Forth, the time of planting when the Nile returned to its bed; and Deficiency, the time of low water and harvest. In some varieties of Turkish there are three seasons only: k\u0131\u015f<\/em> \u2018winter\u2019, bahar<\/em> \u2018spring\u2019 and yaz<\/em> \u2018summer\u2019, although other speakers use a four season system: k\u0131\u015f<\/em> \u2018winter\u2019, ilkbahar<\/em> \u2018spring\u2019, yaz<\/em> \u2018summer\u2019 and sonbahar<\/em> \u2018autumn\u2019, where bahar<\/em> can also be used to designate an unspecified intermediate season.<\/p>\n

Finally, there are languages which have more than four seasons<\/strong>. For example, in Hindi<\/a> (an Indo-European language spoken in northern India), six seasons are distinguished: vasant ritu<\/em> \u2018spring season\u2019 (March-April), greeshm ritu <\/em>\u2018summer season\u2019 (May-June), varsha ritu<\/em> \u2018rainy season\u2019 (July \u2013 August), sharad ritu<\/em> \u2018autumn season\u2019 (September-October-mid November), hemmat ritu<\/em> \u2018pre-winter season\u2019 (November-December) and sheet ritu<\/em> \u2018winter season\u2019 (January-February).<\/p>\n

In Polish, besides wiosna<\/em> \u2018spring\u2019, lato<\/em> \u2018summer\u2019, je<\/em>s<\/em>ie\u0144<\/em> \u2018autumn\u2019 and zima<\/em> \u2018winter\u2019 there are the words przedwio\u015bnie<\/em> (\u2018before spring\u2019) and przedzimie<\/em> (\u2018before winter\u2019). Interestingly, some Polish speakers say that the latter word is now obsolete while the former is used widely. In Russian, there is a word \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0437\u0438\u043c\u044c\u0435 (predzim\u2019ye)<\/em> \u2018before winter\u2019, but no other words to designate such ‘in-between’ seasons.<\/p>\n

But having different number of seasons from the \u2018standard\u2019 is not the only possible way for languages to stand out. Have a look at this linguistic puzzle: it was originally composed (in Russian) by Irina Chesnokova for use at the Moscow Linguistics Olympiad<\/a>, and it recently appeared in a collection of the best Olympiad puzzles (\u0422\u0440\u0430\u0434\u0438\u0446\u0438\u043e\u043d\u043d\u0430\u044f \u041e\u043b\u0438\u043c\u043f\u0438\u0430\u0434\u0430 \u043f\u043e \u043b\u0438\u043d\u0433\u0432\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0435. 49 \u043b\u0443\u0447\u0448\u0438\u0445 \u0437\u0430\u0434\u0430\u0447.<\/em> [The Traditional Linguistics Olympiad. 49 problems], Moscow, 2020).<\/p>\n

It is all about how the Manx language refers to various kinds of time period. Problem.<\/strong> Manx is a language belonging to the Celtic branch of Indo-European, spoken by about 1800 people on the Isle of Man. Consider these phrases in Manx and their unordered English translations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jerrey Geuree<\/td>\nA. June<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 mean oie<\/td>\nB. January<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Toshiaght Souree<\/td>\nC. midnight<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 oie gyn cadley<\/td>\nD. February<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jerrey Souree<\/td>\nE. July<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 cadley geuree<\/td>\nF. winter sleep (hibernation)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Toshiaght Arree<\/td>\nG. May<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mean Souree<\/td>\nH. sleepless night<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Match the Manx phrase (1-8) with the corresponding English translation (A-H)<\/li>\n
  2. Translate into English: Mean Fouyir<\/em>, gyn jerrey<\/em><\/li>\n
  3. Translate into Manx: April, October<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    As is rightly emphasized on the website of the\u00a0 International Linguistics Olympiad<\/a> \u2013 which, incidentally, is going to be held on the Isle of Man this year, \u201cno prior knowledge of linguistics or languages is required: even the hardest problems require only your logical ability, patient work, and willingness to think around corners\u201d. For those who want to try and solve the problem for themselves, I will give the solution below, underneath a picture of a hellebore, the first flower to open in our garden at the end of winter:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/center><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Solution to the problem.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    In the middle column I give the literal translations, and in the right column are the actual equivalents of the names of the months:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
    Jerrey geuree<\/td>\nend of winter<\/td>\nJanuary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    mean oie<\/td>\nmiddle of the night<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Toshiaght Souree<\/td>\nbeginning of summer<\/td>\nMay<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    oie gyn cadley<\/td>\nsleepless night<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Jerrey Souree<\/td>\nend of summer<\/td>\nJuly<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    cadley geuree<\/td>\nwinter sleep (hibernation)<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Toshiaght Arree<\/td>\nbeginning of spring<\/td>\nFebruary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Mean Souree<\/td>\nmiddle of summer<\/td>\nJune<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Mean Fouyir<\/td>\nmiddle of autumn<\/td>\nSeptember<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    gyn jerrey<\/td>\nendless<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Jerrey Arree<\/td>\nend of spring<\/td>\nApril<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Jerrey Fouyir<\/td>\nend of autumn<\/td>\nOctober<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

     
    \nAs we can see, the crucial point in solving of the problem is to realise that the seasons in Manx do not match up with the seasons in English: in Manx, January counts as the end of winter, not the middle, September is the middle of autumn, not the beginning, and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    As spring slowly but surely begins to announce itself with snowdrops, primroses and daffodils, we may ask how much variation there is in the concept of the seasons from one language to another. As Encyclopedia Britannica informs us, \u201cthe seasons\u2014winter, spring, summer, and autumn\u2014are commonly regarded in the Northern Hemisphere as beginning respectively on the winter solstice, December 21 or 22; on the vernal equinox, March 20 or 21; on the summer solstice, June 21 or 22; and on the…<\/p>\n

    Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"coauthors":[88],"class_list":["post-1201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1201"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1216,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1201\/revisions\/1216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1201"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morph.surrey.ac.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}