Re: Launch button

Yitziks lé fuzh:

>Katav Mike Ellis:
>
>>  Can someone tell me how nat- or conlangs conjugate (or don't) the verb as
>>  it appears on a LAUNCH button?
>
>This particular button in Russian uses a noun |pusk| related to the verb
>|(za)puskatj| 'to launch'. Some others use infinitives, e.g. |iskatj| for
>"serch".
Mente Arnts:

I have never actually seen a LAUNCH button, let alone in my native
language, but Norwegian menus in windowing systems always uses the
imperative. Anything else would seem odd to me...

Mente Roberts:

well, on my calculator, i can set it to use spanish, finnish, or
hungarian so here goes:
english: Edit..., Create New, Reset..., SEND, RECEIVE
spanish: Edtiar..., Crear Nuevo, Reset..., ENVIAR, RICIBIR
finnish: Muokk..., Kirj Uusi, Per.asetukset..., LÄHETA, VASTOTTO
hungarian: Szerkeszt..., Újat készit, Nulláz..., KÜLD, ÁTVESZ

Mente Krístofbauths:

French uses infinitives or derived nouns. "Save" is usually "Sauvegarder"
or "Sauvegarde". The "Start" on the Windows taskbar becomes "Démarrer".

From what I'm seeing here (though I can't speak to the Finnish), and
what I have on my Japanese software, it looks like langs opt for the
citation (dictionary) forms of their verbs, or perhaps nouns if
they're shorter. In Hungarian, szerkeszt, küld, átvesz, etc. are
third person singular forms, but that's citation form. Infinitives in
the Romance langs and Russian are citation form. Present informal is
citation form in Japanese. And at least in Swedish, imperatives are
citation form -- I assumed Norwegian operated the same way. And so
too with English.

When I first saw this question, I thought Géarthnuns might use its
hortative/jussive form, which is used on traffic signs and in general
commands aimed at no one in particular or personally ("please
remember to take your things as you alight from the bus"). Imperative
is way too brusque; you use that only when specific person(s) are
involved. But in the interest of space and in light of my epiphany, I
think citation form is the way to go, as it's, de facto, the shortest
form. Gerunds or other verbal nouns would not save on space *at all*
in Géarthnuns; that usually adds at least two syllables.

Kou