Let me
offer one last example, this time at the pragmatic level: even phrases which
are on the surface very different, like
E' una
specie di sedia, piccola – It’s a kind of low chair.
C'est
une personne qui coupe tes cheveux – It’s a person who cuts your hair.
It is used
to take photos.
share a
deep-level function: for example, they help us to “adjust the message”,
that is, to find other ways of expression when our linguistic and
communicative competence is not up to the meaning we want to express – in
this case, when we do not know the word for “sgabello” - stool, “ coiffeur” -
hairdresser – and “camera”.
