Re: Tiny lexicon languages

Post Script to the bird language:  a 20-word language could cover a lot
of ground if you had the word "not."  So:

        day,
        not day
        danger
        not danger
        ground
        not ground
        etc.
        rival
        not rival,
        me
        not me

Twenty-word sparrow language:


        1. food
        2. eat
        3. sleep
        4. mate
        5. egg
        6. chick
        7. fly
        8. perch
        9. feather
        10. danger
        11. rival
        12. fight
        13. hurt
        14. dead
        15. ground
        16. me
        17. you
        18. other
        19. not
        20. many

Sparrows don't know they're birds, so there's no word for bird:  just
"many me you."
You don't need a word for sky, because it's "not ground."  That could
also be
tree.  So: not branch not ground.  You don't need "him," just "not me
not you."
(I can't tell you how funny I think this is!!!).  You don't need a word
for
one, because that's covered by "not many."  One's mate is "not rival."
That
could also be parent or sibling, but sparrows don't know the
difference.  What
about sex?  Do sparrows need to tell the difference between male and
female?
Hmmm.  Maybe we need a word for the female gender, in which case we'll
need
to throw out "feathers" (why would sparrows talk about feathers? maybe
when
they molt, but that's not a topic of conversation), and substitute
female,
and of course a male would be a "not female."  Maybe "rival" covers
that.
Well, I'll leave anybody who wants to to supply the appropriate chirps
and
so forth for the twenty words, and then we can start writing some
literature:

        1) Many Food Ground Not Danger  (Or: Sally has filled the birdfeeder)
        2) Danger Danger dead not me not you ground (Or: A cat caught one of
                        us and left its carcass on the pavement)

Hmm.  I left out "day."  We'll have to eliminate another word.

And so it goes... the bird conlanger hard at work in her book-lined
study...
;-) ;-) ;-) Sally