Re: Dublex (was: Washing-machine words (was: Futurese, Chinese,

Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...> comunu:

>Yes, Jeffrey's list of Dublex compounds was very instructive.  It confirms
>to my mind that compounding will not enhance BrSc's compactness any more
>than it enhanced Speedwords.  It also seems to me to underline the
>drawbacks of relying heavily on compounds.
I beg to disagree.  You could convert the 400 Dublex roots into two letter
roots (20 initial sounds times 20 final sounds) and have 160,000 possible
two-root compounds of four letters.  Or you could have 26*26 (676) roots by
identifying the most common Dublex compound pairs and making them roots in
BrSc.

And the advantage of the Dublex Compound Interest spreadsheet is that you
could have a 5000-word vocabulary in an evening of work. Just generate the
root permutations, plug them into the spreadsheet and you'd be all set:
http://www.langmaker.com/dublexcompoundinterest.htm

Here's a quick example of the nonce language Vlvc (velocity+word):

bc: alphabet -- a system of writing tending to represent individual sounds
rather than representing individual syllables or individual meanings (e.g.,
hieroglyhs, Chinese characters)
bk: bovine, cow, bull -- any of various members of the genus Bos of either
sex
bd: body part -- any part of an organism such as an organ or extremity
bh: outside -- the space beyond the outer surface
bm: bamboo -- the hardy wooden stems of bamboo plants; used in construction,
crafts and fishing poles
bn: reserve - supply kept back and saved for future use
ba: flag, banner -- usu. rectangular piece of cloth of distinctive design
used to convey a message or part of a message or to signify a group of
people
br: bar, rod, rail -- any long, thin implement made of metal or wood
bo: lightning -- the flash of light that accompanies an electric discharge
in the atmosphere
bz: market -- place where goods are bought/sold/traded
be: absence -- a deficiency or lack of something
bi: building, edifice -- structure with walls and a roof and stands more or
less permanently in one place
bx: barley -- the grain of Hordeum vulgare or its varieties, used since
prehistoric times for livestock feed, malt production and cereal
bb: bomb -- an explosive device fused to ignite under specific conditions
bu: future -- the time yet to come
by: brown -- an orange color of low brightness and saturation
vl: fast object -- something travelling a relatively great distance per unit
of time [scalar]
vc: word -- a unit of language that native speakers can identify

And 34 words from these roots. This would have to be cleaned up -- I still
need to review all the entries.  But it gives you the flavor of what is
possible.
babc: semaphore
bcbc: writing system
bcbe: preliteracy -- the fact (of a civilization) of having no written
language
bcvc: acronym -- a word formed from the initial letters of a multi-word name
bcvc: initialism -- an abbreviation (such as CIA, MTV, LSD, DJ or CD)
pronounced by sounding the name of each constituent letter
bdbe: apterygote -- one of the primitive wingless orders of insects
bdbh: to get X out of one's system
bdbn: a bank for reserving blood, corneas, hearts, lungs, kidneys or other
organs for transplant
bdbz: the market for animal parts usually sold for supposed medicinal
qualities
bevc: babble -- to utter unintelligible chitchat
bhbc: sound not represented by the Dublex (Roman) alphabet
bhbc: sound not represented by the Dublex (Roman) alphabet (c.f. bahbacfon)
bhbd: argentine (family Argentinidae)
bhbe: hollow
bhbi: coat -- an outer garment that has sleeves and covers the body from
shoulder down; worn outdoors
bhvc: idea, concept -- the content of cognition
bibc: hieroglyphics -- the system of letters and pictograms used in Ancient
Egypt
bibe: homeless person
bibh: ceiling
bibh: picnic
bibh: roof
bkbc: boustrophedon -- a writing system in which the direction of lines is
alternated, usually compared to the movement of an ox plough
bnbd: hump
bnbi: bank (c.f. dinarbancbin)
bnbi: bank {building}
bobo: lightning and thunder
bobr: lightning rod
bovc: wit, humor, humour, witticism, wittiness -- a message whose ingenuity
or verbal skill or incongruity has the power to evoke laughter
bube: having no future, like bums or slackers
bybd: liver -- large reddish-brown glandular organ located in the upper
right portion of the abdominal cavity; secretes bile and functions in
metabolism
byby: Latvia (LVA)
bzbi: store, shop, boutique -- a mercantile establishment for the retail
sale of all goods
vcbc: kanji -- the Japanese characters that represent an entire word
vlbc: Gregg shorthand

> At 6:08 am +0100 15/5/02, And Rosta wrote:
> [snip]
> >(unambigously analysable) compounds. I don't see much advantage in
> >a *regularized* rafsioid scheme of the sort you describe. Overall, I
> >think compounding is very overrated.
>
> I'm coming to that conclusion also.
Them's fighting words. :-)  Not really, of course, but since it flies in the
face of my whole experiment I have to ask you both why you think that
compounding is overrated.

Best regards,

Jeffrey
http://jeffrey.henning.com
http://www.langmaker.com

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