Re: Aesthetic Language Sense

Matt wrote:
>
> >Boudewijn Rempt wrote:
> >
> >> Well... I'm getting quite wary of the word _all_, used in connection
> >> to language. Of course, there is iconicism in sound, with is why I'm
> >> not entirely happy with the Denden _kela_ for 'mouse'.
>
> What's wrong with "kela"?  Sounds a lot like "kila", which means
> "to be small" in Tokana.  I think it fits the concept.  :-)
>
I think it's the /e/ versus /i/, now if it were kella, I'd
be more confident. Actually, _kela_ is derived from Southern
colloquial _kelakar_ 'rat', which corresponds regular to
Denden _kracar_ (The /c/ is a palatal fricative. I guess rats
are more common than mice, and a mouse is kind of a shortened
rat. Smallness is mostly expressed by the productive diminutive
suffix <-yi> or the improductive diminutive prefix <yi-> - I
think that _yike_ or _yikela_ would have been a better word
for mouse, but it isn't.

> Of course, I'm not entirely happy with the Tokana word for mouse,
> which is "osek".  But even though "osek" does not really suggest
> mousiness (mousey-ness?) to me, it has so entrenched itself that
> I couldn't imagine changing it.  That would be like denying reality.
> (I guess that's another facet of the concept of 'rightness' in
> conlangs.)
Well, _osek_ sounds a bit marsupial to me ;-).

Boudewijn Rempt  | http://denden.conlang.org/~bsarempt