Re: basic vocab

H. S. Teoh wrote:
>
> On Fri, Sep 15, 2000 at 08:26:09AM -0400, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
> [snip]
> > I remember trying the dictionary approach with my first
> quasi-conlang (in
> > middle school, basically an English/French clone), Eivaredd.  Didn't
> > work.  I'm sure it could for others, but with a dictionary I'd have to
> > sort through all the modern terminology that wouldn't appear in
> a society
> > with Renaissance-ish technology, Western culture terms,
> technical jargon,
> > etc.
> [snip]
>
> Yep. I'm going to avoid using the dictionary at all, if possible, for
> creating words in my conlang. One of the problems is, like you said,
> sorting through modern terminology, technical jargon, etc.; the *other*
> problem, which IMHO is a more significant problem, is that generating
> words from an English dictionary causes the vocabulary of your conlang to
> be English-like, with English-like semantics and English-like
> idiosyncrasies.
FWIW, I do use a dictionary to help creating vocab for my Quasi-European
Carastan tongues, but I use foreign-language dictionaries. I used
Portuguese for Carashan, Spanish for Peusodan and Welsh for Bulyth. This
gives the languages a unique yet familiar "feel" to them, which I am quite
pleased with.

Dan

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Go dtóga na púcaí do bheithígh!
                                      May the fairies take your livestock!
Dan Jones: www.geocities.com/yl_ruil/
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