Blog Post #2 – Untranslatable Word

FILENAME:      MiddayRepose

TITLE:              Midday Repose

DATE:              6 May 2019

KEY WORDS:  lexicon of anatomy; sensory perception; transitive verbs; untranslatable words

DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY:

SETTING & SCENE:  during the siesta-like midday repose, near the carpenter’s workshop (beneath a tree on a small promontory near the beach, to enjoy the shade and breeze)

PARTICIPANT(S):  carpenter, 2 apprentices (another had returned briefly to his dwelling), and the participant-observer

ENDS:                         

carpenter & apprentices: to explain a word and idiomatic expression(s) to non-member of ingroup

participant-observer: to understand an unfamiliar word and idiomatic expression(s) for which there seems to be no direct equivalent in English language

ACT SEQUENCE:         

After the midday meal, all of us were drowsy. As we reclined in the shade, conversation was relaxed and minimal, consisting primarily of observations in the form of short phrases and acknowledgements/responses in the form of sounds indicating agreement. I noticed the apprentice named Shemeni staring off into the distance. When the carpenter noticed it too, the carpenter asked Shemeni a question, which I understood as “ What /ɑp.d͡ʒɑn/ your eye, Shemeni?” The word that I heard as apjan, which seemed to be the verb in the question, was unfamiliar to me. When I asked what does apjan mean, my inquiry seemed to bring together the thoughts of all three native speakers of Chongja, as no simple answer seemed possible. As they expounded upon apjan, no English equivalent came to my mind, nor were the native speakers able to come up with synonyms of apjan to help me understand.

KEY:  demonstration; brainstorming; consideration of various possible instances

INSTRUMENTALITIES: simplified speech combined with demonstrative gestures and instructional pantomime

NORMS:  description; explication; corrective feedback

GENRE:  compiling examples; identifying situations in which native speakers do not use the verb and idiomatic collocations

REFLECTIONS:            

After the half-hour-long interaction about the meaning of apjan, synthesizing the explanations and demonstrations of the native speakers leads me to conjecture that apjan:

1.)        is a transitive verb, for which English language has no comparable word;

2.)        takes as its direct object one of the body parts associate with the five senses (i.e., sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) of a person;

3.)        conveys connotations comparable to aspects of such English verbs as capture, bind,         immobilize, overwhelm, paralyze, and stun;

4.)        means something like captivating one of a person’s five senses in a way that prevents      the person from experiencing any other phenomenon perceived by that sense;

5.)        usually represents a temporary condition;

6.)        is frequently used figuratively, but also can be used literally;

7.)        encompasses (but is not limited to) such English words and phrases as awestruck;            dumbfounded; blinded by; rendered speechless; made numb; et al; and

8.)        might be translated into English as a phrasal verb such as to bind one’s sense of ___.

EMERGING QUESTIONS/ANALYSES:

Q1:  Since the native speakers were only able to think of one example apjan used with the sense of touch, are there more?

FUTURE ACTION:       

Compile and maintain log of situations in which apjan is used by other native speakers.

Try to use apjan in multiple ways of my own devising, to see how flexible or inflexible this verb might be.