Re: Basic vocabulary when starting a conlang

Roberto Suarez Soto writes:
 >         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. There should also be a few
 > basic words, as: man, woman, child, life, death, sky, earth, water,
 > fire, god. And of course, the basic personal pronouns: I, you,
 > he/she/it, we, you, they.
 >
 >         Of course, then there would be more specific or strange verbs,
 > nouns and pronouns depending on each culture/language. But I think a
 > basic list of these terms would be useful when starting a conlang (for
 > me, at least! :-)). Is there any of this already in the FAQ, or
 > somewhere else?
 >

There have been vaurious attempts to create basic vocabulary lists for
conlanging. Personally I'm using Rick Harrison's Vital English
Vocabulary

http://www.invisiblelighthouse.com/langlab/vitaleng.html

It's fairly anglocentric, though, despite the inclusion of kanji
data. But not a bad place to start from.  It might be a longer list
than you're looking for, of course.

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