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Words with built-in error correction

From:Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...>
Date:Monday, December 5, 2005, 21:47
Expanding on an idea that occured to me in relation to
Elomi...

A conlang design that is accent-proof:

Begin with a set of word templates which have only
consonants and places indicated for vowels, but no
specific vowels in them:

B- D- F- G- H- J- K- L- M- ....
-B- -D- -F- -G- -H- -J- -K- -L- -M- ....
-LB- -LD- -LF- -LG- -LJ- -LK- -LM- ....
-NB- -ND- -NF- -NG- -NJ- -NK- -NL- -NM- ....
-RB- -RD- -RF- -RG- -RJ- -RK- -RL- -RM- ....
-SB- -SD- -SF- -SG- -SH- -SK- -SL- -SM- ....
...
B-B- B-D- B-F- B-G- B-H- B-J- B-K- B-L- B-M- ....
B-LB- B-LD- B-LF- B-LG- B-LJ- B-LK- B-LM- ....
B-NB- B-ND- B-NF- B-NG- B-NJ- B-NK- B-NL- B-NM- ....
B-RB- B-RD- B-RF- B-RG- B-RJ- B-RK- B-RL- B-RM- ....
B-SB- B-SD- B-SF- B-SG- B-SH- B-SK- B-SL- B-SM- ....
...
-B-B- -B-D- -B-F- -B-G- -B-H- -B-J- -B-K- -B-L- -B-M-
....
-B-LB- -B-LD- -B-LF- -B-LG- -B-LJ- -B-LK- -B-LM- ....
-B-NB- -B-ND- -B-NF- -B-NG- -B-NJ- -B-NK- -B-NL-
-B-NM- ....
-B-RB- -B-RD- -B-RF- -B-RG- -B-RJ- -B-RK- -B-RL-
-B-RM- ....
-B-SB- -B-SD- -B-SF- -B-SG- -B-SH- -B-SK- -B-SL-
-B-SM- ....
...
... T-LK-M-S- T-LK-M-T- T-LK-M-V- ...

When a new word is coined a template is selected and
whatever vowels you like are inserted.
T-LK-M-T- can become talkamata, or tolkimato, or
tulkometi, or any one of 625 different words with that
consonant pattern.

Once the word is selected and added to the lexicon the
template is discarded, never to be used again. Thus
every core word in the lexicon has a unique consonant
pattern, and no matter how the pronunciation of the
vowels change with accent, the identity of the word
remains the same, because there is only one possible
word with that template. Thus the lexicon has a
built-in tolerance for different accents, and a sort
of checksum error correcting feature that preserves
the meaning of the word even under extreme distortions
of the vowel sounds within it. It is, therefore,
indifferent to, or at least very tolerant of accents.

Using a conservative set of 30 intial consonants and
consonant clusters, 30 final consonants or clusters,
and 30 medial consonants or clusters, the number of
templates for words of three syllables or less exceeds
a hundred thousand, with over three million words of
four or fewer syllables. A hundred thousand core words
of three or fewer syllables (each with a completely
unique consonant pattern) seems adequate.

--gary

Replies

Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...>
David J. Peterson <dedalvs@...>