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Eskimo words for snow

Like Gary, I too have been happy to see some actually scholarly discussion
on nn.lang, although I think it has been far too little. Most of the questions
unfortunately have not been of this calibre. As the result I have been
tempted at times to sign off.

On the issue of the many names for snow in Inuit. According to one book I
recently saw ("Eskimo has twenty words for snow" or something like that),
such a notion is pure myth perpetrated by Whorf and others ignorant of the
language. Unfortunately, others have used this as a basis for many other
assumptions, according to the author. He makes a point that in fact the
Eskimo has two basic words for snow (fewer than English with snow, sleet,
blizzard, powder, etc.).

[ Thanks to Alan Dench in Australia for mentioning in a message to me
that Geoff Pullum is the author of what sounds like the book jmay is
thinking of. Alan says it's published by the University of Chicago
Press. Maybe someone out there knows the exact title. Thanks. --Gary ]

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