Re: Tiny lexicon languages

Jim Henry wrote:
> Personally I prefer a relatively small lexicon with creative use of
> derivation, but 20 roots is probably too small to be useful...
I'm generally the same way, altho I also like "unpredictable"
derivations, like kapa'/kapaffa' (distant/distance), kassi'/kassissa'
(sing/song) - the original forms were ke"pa'f/ke"pafla' and
kasti'he"s/kastihe"sla', the -fl- and -sl- became -lf- and -ls-, then
the l assimilated, to make -ff- and -ss, but the final consonants were
lost in the root form.  (e" = /@/)

I tend to like to make verbs my basic roots, and derive other words from
them, for instance:
saga' (to speak)
sagga' (language) (-la' = abstract noun)
saggapyasu'n (to study linguistics) (-pyasu'n = to study X)
sunasaggapyasu'n (linguist) (su- = gender 3; na- = one who)
pisaggapyasunna' (linguistics) (pi- gender 7; -la' = abstract noun)
saggapyasunnaya'sa (linguistic) (-ya'sa = adjective)

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