snow lexemes yup ik linguist vol5 1231 david prager branner writes talk linguist list great eskimo snow hoax would like hear inuit tlingit specialist snow situation really languages frankly find rather hard believe rural southern chinese dialects lots words different kinds rice nt inuit dozen words different kinds cold precipitation geoff pullum book great eskimo vocabulary hoax came started getting quite number inquiries journalists words eskimo motivated prepare appended item please feel free pass around tony woodbury counting eskimo words snow citizen guide lexemes referring snow snowrelated notions steven jacobson 1984 yup ik eskimo dictionary 1 anthony c woodbury university texas austin july 1991 list lexemes referring snow related notions one eskimo language central alaskan yupik yup ik eskimo spoken 13 000 people coast river areas southwestern alaska norton sound bristol bay one five eskimo languages five probably bestknown inuit spoken series welldifferentiated dialects ranging northern alaska across canadian far north coast greenland term inuit preferred eskimo many canada term retained properly refers eskimo group inuit b use widespread native communities alaska list lexemes rather words roughly lexeme thought independent vocabulary item dictionary entry different word since lexeme give rise one distinctly inflected word thus english single lexeme _ speak _ gives rise inflected forms like _ speaks _ _ spoke _ _ spoken _ especially important count lexemes rather words talking eskimo languages inflectionally complicated single noun lexeme may 280 distinct inflected forms verb lexeme may 1000 obviously would put number snow words roof quickly list organized according lexeme meanings perhaps somewhat arbitrarily counted fifteen placing within noun verb lexemes basic sense perhaps even arbitrarily grouped fifteen meanings four larger sets arbitrary decision left discretion readerthe decision count lexemes problems face fifteen lexeme meanings really meanings words meanings really count words snow 2 b synonyms present alternative lexemes meaning like garbage vs trash english going count separately together c decided count synonyms together also count together members nounverb pairs basically meaning members technically speaking separate lexemes since partly idiosyncratic morphological changes mark verbal forms must therefore listed separately truly informative dictionary indeed jacobson dictionary following jacobson specially labelled lexemes occur small subpart central alaskan yupik speaking region going try make counts separate dialect yes wonder really enough information alone thissuch information difficult compile whether linguist also whether native speaker language 3 snow particles 1 snowflake qanuk nowflake qanir snow qanunge snow nun qanugglir snow nun 2 frost kaneq frost kaner frosty frost sth 3 fine snow rain particles kanevvluk fine snow rain particles kanevcir get fine snow rain particles 4 drifting particles natquik rifting snow etc natqu v igte snow etc drift along ground 5 clinging particles nevluk clinging debris nevlugte clinging debris lint snow dirt b fallen snow 6 fallen snow ground aniu ns ground aniu ns get snow ground apun ns ground qanikcaq ground qanikcir get snow ground 7 soft deep fallen snow ground muruaneq oft deep snow 8 crust fallen snow qetrar nsu snow crust qerretrar nsu snow crust 9 fresh fallen snow ground nutaryuk fresh snow hbc 10 fallen snow floating water qanisqineq floating water c snow formations 11 snow bank qengaruk bank hbc 12 snow block utvak carved block 13 snow cornice navcaq nsu cornice snow formation collapse navcite get caught avalanche meterological events 14 blizzard snowstorm pirta blizzard snowstorm pircir blizzard pirtuk blizzard snowstorm 15 severe blizzard cellallir cellarrlir snow heavily pir e e pag blizzard severely pirrelvag blizzard severely appendix unordered list english snow lexemes avalanche blizzard blowing snow dusting flurry frost hail hardpack ice lens igloo inuit iglu house pingo inuit pingu q ice lens powder sleet slushsnow snow bank snow cornice snow fort snow house snow man snowmixed withrain snowflake snowstorm others footnotes 1 published alaska native language center university alaska fairbanks 2 indeterminacy difficulty question due fact words nt merely match preexisting things world rather shape encapsulate ideas things categorized compare dog vs canine interacting compare sheep vs mutton word functions grammatically compare noun cow vs adjective bovine wish represent attitudes compare critter vs varmint connection point discussion eskimo words snow first arose writings two major 20th century anthropological linguists franz boas benjamin lee whorf unfortunately point pretty much missed insist counting 3 dialect area abbreviations used ns norton sound dialect nsu norton sound unaliq subdialect hbc hooper bay chevak yukon river area subdialect general central alaskan yupik dialect nun nunivak