Re: Word Construction for a New Conlang

>From: Ed Heil <edheil@...>
[snip]
>I'm curious how other people work, especially people who, like me, do
>not have a really hardcore linguistics background with exposure to a
>lot of natlangs and formal descriptions thereof.
>
>Ed Heil ------------------------------- edheil@postmark.net
>"Facts are meaningless! You can use facts to prove anything
>    that's even _remotely_ true!"           -- Homer Simpson


Well, that's definitely me. When starting out, I pick out some
straightforward phonemes: sounds I can pronounce, sounds I like, sounds that
are just simple enough to hold my attention. Then I decide if I want
aspiration, tone, etc.  Once I got bored with the voiced/voiceless thing so
I made a lang that distinguished plain, aspirated, and palatalised (like
Quecha?). Then I do basic  phonotactics: what's a legal syllable, legal
clusters and where the can occur, where stress occurs, that sort of thing.
All very simple, basic, not fooling anybody.  Now that I'm actually far
enough along on one project for this to work, I should go pronounce my vocab
lists and find out where the allophones and what not are. Oh, and I'm having
a lot of fun messing with the phonology of different dialects.
As for the words, either I already have an idea of what they should be from
the beginning, or I go to my page of computer-generated syllables for
inspiration. Right now I'm using WordGen. Just strings of letters separated
by the appropriate spaces. Then you put the finished list into Shoebox and
who needs Langmaker? (I'm looking at the file it says isn't there, and the
damn thing still won't start. I'm disgruntled.)

Well, he _did_ ask.

Jennifer

I love that quote.


_______________________________________________________________
Get Free Email and Do More On The Web. Visit http://www.msn.com