Re: My new project - comments appreciated

Joe wrote:

> David Barrow wrote:
>
>> In forming your words will you be going by cognates (a word contributes
>> regardless of its current meaning) or by semantics (only if a word has
>> kept the same meaning as the others)?
>>
>
> A combination of both, I suppose.  A word shouldn't be used in one sense
> if there is a better alternative(eg. one that means the same in all
> dialects), but if it's a tie, congnates have to be included.

Maybe I should have phrased the question better. I was asking about word
formation not word choice. You would use cognates in all instances to
form words, but would a language contribute its cognate for word
formation even if it no longer meant the same as the others?

Another question. Prefer the Germanic synonym to the Latin synonym even
if its usage is less frequent or go by the most frequent regardless?

>
>> And wouldn't something like Platdeutsch be closer to
>> English/Scots/Frisian than Dutch?
>
>
>
> Well, it's all part of the same Dialect continuum, really.  It's
> something like this:
>
>             Scots-English-Frisian-Low Saxon-German
>                                     /
>                                 Dutch
> Or something like that.  It's not an ancestry diagram, more a contact
> one, if you see what I mean... I could have included the whole Western
> Germanic family, but that would have been harder.
Or the North-Western Germanic Family and done something like Folkspraak

David Barrow