Re: Basic vocabulary when starting a conlang

Quoting Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>:

> On 31 Aug 02, at 15:23, Roberto Suarez Soto wrote:
>
> >         What do you think is the basic vocabulary to start a conlang?
> >
> >         I was thinking that there are a few verbs that, because of its
> > everyday use or significance, should be the first to be "created": to
> > be, to have, to live, to die, to go, to come.
>
> Careful there. Some of those high-frequency verbs are used in special
> ways in English and related languages which you may or may not wish to
> duplicate. For example, there are a number of languages which need no
> copula (so "I doctor" means "I *am* a doctor"), so "to be" is not
> necessarily universal.
Although many/most languages do have some verb "to exist", so "be"
is still relevant there.

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Thomas Wier
Dept. of Linguistics  "Nihil magis praestandum est quam ne pecorum ritu
University of Chicago sequamur antecedentium gregem, pergentes non qua
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