Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Pejorative words (was: Introducing myself, and several questions)

From:Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...>
Date:Sunday, February 20, 2005, 8:17
On Feb 19, 2005, at 8:50 AM, Jeffrey Jones wrote:
> On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:17:15 -0500, Steg Belsky <draqonfayir@...> > wrote: >> -Stephen (Steg) >> "i am the terror that flaps in the night." >> (oh no wait... that's darkwing duck!)
> Steg, while we're on the topic of potentially offensive conwords .... > When the discussion of mythical beings (in conlangs) came up, I didn't > have > anything to contribute. Yesterday, however, your "gabwe" came to mind. > I > never remember how it's supposed to be pronounced, so I think ["ga.bwe] > when I see it. If borrowed into 'Yemls, it would become ["gO.bwE:] > (written > {AbE}), which is awkward. Then I thought of metathesis: gawbe. The > nearest > adaptation would be ["g_j&O.bE] (written {GOP}). What do you (and > Roger and others for that matter) think? > Jeff
Cool, i'm honored :) "Gabwe" - or more properly, Gáb-we - is pronounced /"ga:b.wE/ *all in Creaky Voice*. |Gáb| = "Goblin", |we| = adjective. At least that's how it's pronounced in my main dialect, Standard Tierean. In Old Byronese it's pronounced /N&m.we/, and in Proto-Goblin it seems to have been pronounced /Ng)a*mb).we*/, where /a*/ and /e*/ represent vowels at the midpoints of the bottom and front sides of the vowel trapezoid, respectively. So what are you borrowing it into 'Yemls to mean? "Goblin"? -Stephen (Steg) "you can confuse the enemy with syllogisms!" ~ what philosophy majors do in the army