Re: restricted semantics language

Rick Harrison wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:45:40 -0400, li_sasxsek@NUTTER.NET wrote:
>
>>> phonosemantics sounds interesting. does this mean that you invent
>>> a phonosemantical system on your own from scratch or are there
>>> any sources from other languages that you refer to?
>
>> What I'm attempting is something based on known universals.
>> Unfortunately I haven't
> found much on the subject
A guy called Joseph Scarisbrick attempted this in his auxlang called
Lips-Kith, which he published in 1912. His vocabulary is composed of
what of what he considered to be "universal" root words. He divided his
vocabularies up into what he called 'Mimetic Roots' and 'Structural Roots'.

> Ken Frisco, who wrote the article on onomatopoeia for Invented
> Languages magazine, has lent me his copy of _The Sound-Symbolic
> System of Japanese_ by Shoko Hamano. I highly recommend this book to
> anyone seeking info on phonosemantics in languages other than
> English. It's fascinating. I don't have time to prepare a proper
> summary but for example the author claims that
>
> /t/ (as the second consonant in a CVCV mimetic adverb) appears in
> contexts where hitting is involved... variations such as 'coming into
> close contact' and 'complete agreement'
>
> /r/ indicates rolling...
[etc. snipped]

Scarisbrick's 'Mimetic Roots' are just such phonosemantic roots. I have
the full list of the roots, but haven't done any analysis of them.
According to Ivan A. Derzhanski:
{quote}
[These roots] "are those which appeal to the intellect": the meaning of
the whole is somehow composed of the conventional meanings of the
individual sounds. They may contain only what Scarisbrick considers
to be the oldest speech sounds. This includes nine "primitive" consonants:

"s" action, stir
"k" close union, coalition
"p" pointing, projection
"t" touching, without union
"m" mouth
"n" nose
"r" undulations
"l" gliding, sliding by
"w" deflexion, twisting
{/quote}

See
http://www.langmaker.com/lipskith.htm

--
Ray
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