Conceptual Gaps And Confused Distinctions

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Conceptual Gaps And Confused Distinctions

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Previously published in: International Associations 26, 1974, 3, pp. 156-159. Also in: Les Problèmes du Langage dans la Société Internationale (Compte rendu du colloque, Paris 28-29 mars 1974). Bruxelles, Union des Associations Internationales, 1975, pp. 173-177

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Conceptual Gaps And Confused Distinctions
Sources of difficulty
Example distinction series
A. Negative Prefixes
B. Spatial Organization Prefixes
C. Cooperation/conflict Series
Confusion between Series
Dichotomies and Variables
Conclusion

Discourse in international society depends to a quite important extent on the use of rather subtle and interrelated distinctions. Some of these are established and preserved by the use of a series of prefixes, at least in the indoeuropean languages. An example is :inter-national, multi-national, cross- national, trans-national. The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the possibility that such neat sets of distinctions may be difficult to translate, particularly into non- indo-european languages, without leading to gaps in the series or blurring some of the distinctions.