Re: OT: Defining words and how they are used

 > The concept is how to use words in your conlang correctly, so that people
get no misconceptions and misunderstanding. 
 
Unless that is a main feature of the conlang. Vance in _The Languages of
Pao_ has the business class of Pao culture using a language that easily
obfuscates the meaning of words (IIRC, there are no examples offered). Not
too long ago I considered creating a language in which most words were
autoantonyms, with a phonology wherein minimum pairs required a very good
ear.     
 
 > One of the reasons for keeping the Quran in "Cassic Arabic" is to keep
things pure and no miunderstandings? 
 
IMO, this would work only if either Arabic never had any shifts in the
meanings of words or everyone reading/hearing the Qurân were a historical
scholar in the language. More likely, keeping it in Classic Arabic serves
two needs: mentally rendering the passages "sacred" - i.e. setting a
specific mindset; and appealing to the idea that old = better or correct,
new = degraded.
 

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