Re: basic vocab

On Fri, Sep 15, 2000 at 05:05:57PM -0400, Yoon Ha Lee wrote:
[snip]
> Even if I used a generator-program, some words don't *sound* right for
> what I want them to mean.  Purely subjective.  Probably someone will look
> at some sample of Chevraqis and go, Yuck!  That sounds awful!  <G>
[snip]

Hmm. Although I've boasted before of my conlang's assigning of various
philosophical connotations with vowels/consonants which supposedly makes
coining new words easier (just pick the sounds with the closest
connotation to the meaning I want), there's this ugly problem that doing
this sometimes produce very ugly-sounding words.

The worst example I have so far is "K0'r0min" /k<h>O*.omin/ or /k`O*.omin/
(Kirsh) with high pitch on /k<h>O/ (sorry, I dunno how to indicate that in
Kirsh). This word is supposed to mean "beauty", as in abstract beauty,
philosophical ideal, or architectural perfection. But to my ears, the way
it's pronounced doesn't quite fit with its meaning... oh well... :-P

But OTOH, I do have a few IMHO nice-sounding words such as "loo'ri"
/lo:*.i/ (with moving pitch, low-high-low, on /lo:/), meaning open lands,
countryside, etc.. The sound of the word gives (to me at least) a feeling
of a vast, open scenery, consistent with its meaning.


T