Re: A wacky language
| From: | Paul Roser <pkroser@...> |
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| Date: | Thursday, February 5, 2004, 19:22 |
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On Wed, 4 Feb 2004 18:56:44 +0000, Ray Brown <ray.brown@...> wrote:
>On Wednesday, February 4, 2004, at 06:52 AM, Philippe Caquant wrote:
>
>> The language will be a written-only one. It will be
>> impossible to use in talk, because it will be
>> three-dimensional (
>
>...because its "speakers" communicate by telepahy, not by uttering
>sounds :)
>
>And even writing in 3-dimensions is going to be a challenge. Practically
>all human writing is plain ol' 2-dimensional stuff representing linear,
>1-dimensional spoken languages.
>
>Now that'd be a real challenge.
How about a system similar to the Incan quipu? "Written" records of the
language consist of 3-d assemblages of knotted cords attached to a central
pole or cord. The central cord represents the linear discourse/text, the
attached cords individually represent words or phrases, with associations
between the length, orientation with respect to the axis of the central
cord, and number, type, and arrangement of knots indicating phonological,
morphological, and syntactic information.
Bfowol