汉语中特有的anomaly

Alan Wang wrote:

汉语的形容词很多都有“人”字。光成语有“人”字的大概就上百。
一旦这些形容词被用来描述动物界，就造成了语言的anomaly。

今天看一部动物世界纪录片，解说中有这样一段话（无疑是翻译过来的）：
年轻的雄鹿趁着鹿王不注意，偷偷地接近诱人的母鹿……

虽然应该是“诱鹿的”，但是必须说成“诱人的”。

You can’t find anything like it in the English language. I can’t be wrong about this.

Lincoln Hui wrote:

Womanizer
Lady's Man
Manhood

Alan Wang wrote:

可以举例说明吗？
比如：自从看见这头老虎，猴山上的猴子是人人自危。

Alan Wang wrote:


比如：自从看见这头老虎，猴山上的猴子是人人自危。

pkchan wrote:

These ROOT-WORDS are HUM & HUMAN which come from the Latin humus, meaning EARTH & GROUND and the Latin humanus which means MAN. It is interesting to follow the changes of idea here. It begins with HUMus, earth, then becomes HUMble, lowly; finally to HUMAN, Man. But we must never forget the origin of man; “Dust thou art and to dust thou must return.”


1. Humus : HUM us (hyu’ mus) n.

Earth; ground


2. Humanities : HUMAN ities (hyu man’ i teze) n.

Studies and interests of a cultural type which enrich the spirit of mankind


3. Humate : HUM ate (hyu’ mate) n.

A salt of a humic acid


4. Exhume : ex HUM e (egz yume’) v.

Take out of the ground; unearth; disinter


5. Exhumate : ex HUM ate (eks hyu’ mate) v.

To exhume; disinter


6. Exhumation : ex HUM ation (eks hu may’ shun) n.

The act of taking out of the ground; disinterment


7. Humble : HUM ble (hum’ b’l) adj.

Lowly; unpretentious; as, an humble poerson


8. Humbly : HUM bly (hum’ blee) adv.

Meekly; unpretentiously


9. Humic : HUM ic (hyu’ mik) adj.

Derived from the soil; as, humic acid


10. Humicubation : HUM incubation (hyu mik yue bay; shun) n.

Act of lying on the ground in penitence; self abasement


11. Humility : HUM ility (hyu mil’ it ee) n.

The quality of lowliness; meekness


12. Humiliate : HUM iliate (hyu mil’ ee ate) v.

To humble; to shame; to abase


13. Humiliation : HUM iliation (hyu mil ee ay’ shun) n.

Feeling of shame; degradation


14. Human : HUMAN (hyu’ man) adj.

Belonging or relating to main


15. Humanify : HUMAN ify (hyu man’ i fie) v.

Make into a man


16. Humane : HUMAN e (hyu mane’) adj.

Marked by sympathy, compassion for other human beings and animals


17. Humanize : HUMAN ize (hyu’ma nize) v.

Make human; render humane


18. Inhuman : in HUMAN (in hyu’ man) adj.

Lacking the qualities of a humane being


19. Humanity : HUMAN ity (hyu man’ it ee) n.

The quality of being human


http://www.english-for-students.com/human.html

[Edited at 2014-01-17 16:07 GMT]

Yan Yuliang wrote:

我想英文中也有类似的词语或表达，任何语言中应该都有一些仔细追究，会发现很有趣的东西。

例如，很多方言中，都会有一些很奇怪的表达。我的家乡方言，就用“家走”表示“回家”，动词放在宾语后面，这种表达汉语很罕见。

这些应该也算是anomaly的范畴吧？呵呵

jyuan_us wrote:

Alan Wang wrote:

可以举例说明吗？
比如：自从看见这头老虎，猴山上的猴子是人人自危。

Alan Wang wrote:

我今天还听到一句话：母角马从来都不会去哺育别人的孩子。

I would like to call it “the confusion of cross-species reference”.

And, there is another dimension to it:

很久之前，我就认识到干我们翻译这行的有两类人，一类区别“它”与“他”，一类不加区别，指代非生物（inanimate things, ideas, etc）也用“他（们）”。
当我了解了真相以后，我就不再去改“他”为“它”了。
但我自己翻译的时候，还是区别这两个字的用法。其结果是，别人反过来把我译文中的“它”改为“他”。
看来对不加区别的翻译来说，“它”在汉语词典里是不存在的。
不过在译文中，好像还未碰到过“它”指动物的，如果这类不加区别的翻译认为指动物可以用“它”，那么“它”还有用。但是那样的话，动物似乎比人类待遇更高。动物独享“它”字，而人类还要和非生物的东西共享“他”字。