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Sri Lestari
Professional Teacher
what does "superimpose" mean?
some pronominal systems exhibit as many as fifteen basic pronouns (ignoring honorifics alternates) by superimposing distinctions based on plurality(duall, trial, plural), gender, and soon.
what does" superimpose" mean in the context above?
Oct 6, 2012 12:30 PM
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Answers · 3
Or to put it more simply, it means "to put something on top of something else".
Figuratively, not only are there some "distinctions" (in your sentence), but the language adds more on top of them.
October 6, 2012
It means that in some languages, some pronouns take into consideration many more different criterions than in others.
For example, in English, there are only 6 prounouns with 1 to 2 layers each.
She: gender = feminine, singular.
They : gender = feminine or masculine, plural.
In French, we have two different "they", one for females groups (elles), one for male groups (ils). So we are superimposing more layers.
Hope that makes sense :)
October 6, 2012
To add as a distinct feature, element, or quality:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/superimpose
Actually I do admit the word is a bit strange here.
October 6, 2012
