2319: Kobon Verbs: Only 120 Apr 23, 2021

Famously, the language of Kobon only has some 90-120 verbs. This is difficult to imagine from an English perspective with 171,476 verbs according to the Oxford English Dictionary 2nd edition. The way this is pulled off is obviously not having anything like English's many synonyms and obscurely used verbs, for instance having only one verb to express observation through any of the senses or emotion, or another verb to describe movement through virtually any means, though there are 3 words for pouring (regarding solids, liquids, or food) and one verb meaning 'to quarter a cassowary'. What Kobon does have, however, is a fairly normal number of nouns, and to get around certain idea phrases which would be periphrastic in other languages are used. Alternatively, verbal ideas are put together to make a compounded meaning.