Re: Unilang: the Lexicon
From: | Andreas Johansson <and_yo@...> |
Date: | Saturday, April 21, 2001, 19:45 |
Óskar wrote:
>Once again, I think the key-word is _balance_. Something like "a mediori"
>(in pig-Latin :p). The basic items in the lexicon would probably best be a
>priori, while more specific concepts, and certainly all local/culture-
>specific items, would be borrowed. But we must also consider the inner
>structure of the language; words like "democracy" and "philosophy" might be
>tempting to borrow, but perhaps some fairly logical constructions from
>native morphemes would do better. What are "long nonsense words" good for,
>even if they're Greek?
Hm, while the idea of "a mediori" seems good, I disagree about the last. If
a word is found in most of the major langs of the world I think it
definitely should be used in the Unilang too. As for "long nonsense words",
I don't think that applies to "democracy" - even to English-speakers that
know squat of Greek, its connection to "autocracy", "theocracy" etc is quite
obvious.
BTW, I assume you're intending to keep the "international" scientific terms?
I see VERY little point in ditching words like "deoxiribos" ...
Andreas
_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.