Re: Re : Re: Re : Case, Innateness, Almost Allnoun, NGL.
| From: | Charles <catty@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, August 6, 1999, 5:16 |
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Nik Taylor wrote:
> Hmm, well, in my conlang, I don't derive everything from verbs, but I
> generally prefer deriving from verbs rather than to verbs. For
> instance, the names of sciences are derived from verbs derived from the
> object of study plus -pyas=FAn (to study), so sag=E1 (speak) --> wasagg=
=E1
> (speach/language) (sag=E1 + -l=E1 (abstract noun)) --> saggapyas=FAn (t=
o study
> languages) --> pisaggapyasunn=E1 (linguistics), sunasaggapyas=FAn (ling=
uist
> - na- =3D one who).
Is the word for "study" somehow related to "pupil", "teach", "learn",
or "know"? No natlang is perfectly consistent in its productivity,
but some conlangs may derive them all as a family of words.
Maybe it was Zamenhof who started all this root-minimalism.
I have a recurring fantasy of a 10000-word CVCV vocabulary
built from 100 CV roots ...