Keywords (was: Re: Browsing at Borders Public Library)

* Ed Heil (edheil@postmark.net) [991010 21:17]:
[def. keywords]
> Words which are fairly frequently used, but which are not
> translatable easily with a single word -- that have to be explained,
> and that convey a concept that is important to the culture.  (They
> don't have to be words for that concept; they could be interjections
> or speech act words that embody that concept -- for example, one of
> Weirzbicka's  Australian keywords is "shout" meaning to buy a round of
> drinks for everyone in the bar... it's significant because it ties in
> to a sort of male working-class gift-culture sort of thing.)
/snip/

AFMCL:
All of the 'bagwords'; words with a very vague meaning, like

utar'a =3D=20
    ancient, old in a good sense, balance, a particular shade of light=20
    blue, unity/union, a particular form of mindset/behavior/exterior,
    eternity...

pa:n =3D
    archaic, old in a bad sense, imbalance, decay, a particular shade of
    dark blue, a particular form of mindset/behavior/exterior, entropy,
    stagnation...

skian =3D=20
    the set of all possible variations/possibilities, ambiguity,
    variation, probability...

Other words, echoing like mantras everywhere there are warriors, ca=ECen:=
...=20

ska:ni "maybe, perhaps, possibly"
    - Used for "goodbye"

(incidentally, skian is formed from skani)

tar "time"
ku=EC "life"
rax "change" > 'reged' "evolution" (rax+RESULT)
car:a "diversity"
    - Five words that comprise the meaning of life for many.=20
      Others spend eternity seeking utar'a, avoiding pa:n.

sa=EC "river"
    - Name of a meditation-technique

War is likened to dancing, weapons are likened to wings, the river is a
symbol of both eternity and change, a very utar'a thing indeed.


tal.
--=20
"Better living through conlanging"