Re: Avoiding near-collisions in vocabulary coinage

Jim:
<<
I should clarify; I meant, not avoiding new words in one's conlang
that sound too similar to existing natlang words, but avoding words
that are too similar to words already in the same conlang.
 >>

I don't think any conlang I've created (aside from, perhaps,
Gweydr) allowed for this possibility.  I mean, in Kamakawi,
*all* the words sound the same, because the phonology is
so small and the only permissible syllables are V and CV.  In
such a language, I think it's to be expected that there might
be /nalu/, /nalo/, /nelu/ and /nelo/.

I always keep things in dictionary format in alphabetical order
(usually an alphabetical order derived for that language).  So
if it strikes me that, "Oh!  Nalo would be a great word for
pheasant!" and then I look at the dictionary and see that "nalu"
means "game hen", I can reevaluate my decision.

With Zhyler, most words are derived via class suffixes.  Given
that, the only decision-making that comes into play involves
the creation of a roots.  But there the structure is such that it's
simple to see what's what.  Essentially, the dictionary looks like
this (since I can't use tabs, I'll use hyphens):

ROOT
-class i word; class ii word; class iii word; class iv word, etc.
ROOT
-class i word; class ii word; class iii word; class iv word, etc.

So all you have to do is scan the left side.  Plus, sometimes it's
useful to have homophony.  For example, any root that ends
in /s/ or /z/ will behave the same way in certain circumstances.
Let's say there are two roots, /vas/ and /vaz/.  The class xii
suffix is /-SM/.  The result:

VAS
-vaSSM (xii) widget
VAZ
-vaSSM (xii) kludge

As a result, homophony is created in a class xii circumstance,
even though the verbs will be /vasal/ and /vazal/, respectively.

Jim:
<<
I also use a couple of scripts that tell me the most and
least common onsets and rimes in the lexicon, to give
me ideas for  potential new wordforms that are
unlikely to conflict with existing ones.
 >>

This would be very, very cool, if you could adapt it.  For
example, I have an idea which syllables end and begin
words most frequently in Kamakawi, but I'd like to see
it for certain for when I happen to want to create a new
word that's different.  Alas, stupid Perl; stupid programming...

-David
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