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Re: Morpheme index project

From:Javier BF <uaxuctum@...>
Date:Sunday, August 25, 2002, 11:27
>No, what I meant is "English words in capital letters, or abbreviations in >capital letters". I only use abbreviations in cases where the English words >would be too cumbersome. In any case, they don't need to be English words. >The key is the use of capital letters to mark "temporary" words that are >intended to be replaced later with the real morphemes. And like the >mnemonics in the Lojban gismu list, they're not intended to represent the >exact meaning of the word, but simply to provide an aid to memory.
That's more or less what I've been doing so far. But I really think having a neat index instead of a bunch of English words and abbreviations is much more useful, because e.g. with the index each morpheme will be thoroughly defined and clearly identified with a convenient numerical short name. What's the advantage of using a thousand abbreviations, which you'll never be able to remember all, over using a thousand numbers which refer to a neat and easily computer-tractable index where accurate information about the morpheme is provided? OTOH, the index allows you to identify the morphemes regardless of the language being used in the discussion. English translations and English-based abbreviations would be used here and in other English-speaking sites, but e.g. in IdeoLengua, a Spanish-speaking mailing list, it's no wonder that we Spanish speakers would much prefer to identify the morphemes using our own Spanish translations and Spanish-based abbreviations. Imagine the mess? Cheers, Javier

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Herman Miller <hmiller@...>