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Re: CHAT: Three questions from a lurker

From:fortytwo <fortytwo@...>
Date:Thursday, November 5, 1998, 23:58
Beorn - wulf wrote:
> How do you decide on your vocabularies/morphemes?
A couple of different ways. My very first conlang, Tarni'f (i' = i-acute), was just invented terms, with some (semi-consistent) derivations, and a complex grammar influenced by Latin and Spanish (the only two foreign languages I knew). Anyways, for my present lang, Watya'iya`isa, basic terminology is just invented. I have a skeleton of earlier stages which I sometimes use for interesting derivations (i.e., a derivation which was once transparent, but has since changed to become opaque), and I borrow from Tarni'f for technical terms (much as English has borrowed from Latin and Greek). I use derivation for related words, especially in translations, where I'll have to invent a word that I don't use in order to make a derivation of *it*.
> And what computer program do you use.
Shoebox. It's very difficult to get used to, but once you're used to it, it's wonderful. Of course, my actual word-creation is done by pencil. I use Shoebox to print out word-lists, and then I add to the printout with pencil when I invent a new word, adding it to the database when I'm on the computer, and printing out a new list when the penciled-in words become to large. Currently I have 11 pages (going on 12). Most of the grammar (outside of inflections) is in my head, tho, because it's not yet "solid" enough to devote to paper, especially the roles of different cases and the like. The verbal aspects are the worst at that, I'm still not clear on what the differences between the five (four aspects plus the null-aspect) are.