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Lin: short lexicon

From:Raymond Brown <ray.brown@...>
Date:Friday, April 19, 2002, 4:56
Right, now for the final instalment of my notes on R. Srikanth's compact
language called Lin.

LEXICON
First, two notes on lexical derivation:

a). The figurative toggle
    ---------------------
    This is a 'switch' mechanism whereby words of two or more letters are
"toggled" into figurative meaning.  This is achieved by changing
voiced/unvoiced status or fricative/plosive status in one or more letters,
where applicable.
Example:
  pl (fruit) ---> fl (outcome, result)

b). The associative toggle
    ----------------------
    This formally transforms in the same way as the figurative, except that
it transports the meaning to an associated concept.
Examples:
  ki (baby/child) ---> gi (innocence)
  sg (lion)       ---> zg (courage)
  sb (dog)        ---> zp (faithfulness)

"The toggles are not regular," warned Srikanth. "There may be a pair of
words that look like toggled words, but may not be so related.   On the
other hand, not always have Lin words been toggled where one might have
expected them to be.  The toggles are useful mnemonic guides."

[They remind me very much Speedwords -v/-i 'associative' suffix, and -g
'general' suffix, with the same undesirable features - unpredictable and
arbitrary in actual use and, in effect, have to be learnt as separate
words.]

Now the short lexicon.
Indeed, it is very short, being just the nine meanings of each of the
single-letter words.  With some, in fact, there are gaps.   The meanings
are to be read in the following order:
adj. gen.1, adj. gen.2, adj. gen.3; noun gen.1, noun gen.2, noun gen.3;
verb gen.1, verb gen.2, verb gen.3

a: good, beautiful, deep; God, love, beginning; help, grant, ***
b: dear, near, ***; any static medium for i/o, feeling, application; (to)
show, ***, ***
c: clear, ***, ***; search, choice, solution; fall/drop, ***, ***
d: different, deep, ***; some info conveyed through a non-static medium,
effort, ***; follow, fly, ***
e: dame, long, ***; he/it, work, energy; (to) close, ***, ***
f: basic, great, physical; thought, action/doing, attraction; bring, fear, ***
g: all, wise, ***; belief, upholdment, definition; suffice, ***, ***
h: happy, tall, heavy; animate being, station, test; have, keep, rise
i: important, interesting, internal; I/we, desire, entrance; become, use,
contain
j: each, reasonable, functional; happening, victory, union/joining; go,
***, ***
k: difficult, sharp, bitter; cause, building/construction, game; put, flow, ***
l: free, ***, ***; permission, progress, laughter; (to) input from static
medium, (to) light, ***
m: many, attentive, sweet; movement, management, mark; be possible,
matter/be relevant, (to) suit
n: new, sure, ***; knowledge, finding, hope; need, ***, ***
o: other, complete, round; she/they, agreement, surprise; (to) open, ***, ***
p: big, simple, ***; meaning, proof, introduction; can, ***, ***
q: real, strange, ***; question, investigation, value; understand, ***, ***
r: safe, ***, ***; existence, presence, protection; fill, ***, ***
s: quiet, calm, tranquil; it, arrangement, meeting; correct, ***, ***
t: careful, secretive, ***; think [noun!], part, breakage; push, ***, ***
u: unimportant, boring, external; you, non-desire, departure; persist,
waste, not-contain
v: fast, wakeful, special; change, control/management, trade/business;
must, ***, ***
w: wide, angry, ***; something given, barrier/blockage, treatment; wait,
attack, ***
x: sacred, mysterious, mystic; birth, way, life; conceal, ***, ***
y: bad, ugly, shallow; manifested world ("adhibhuta"), hat, end; ***, ***, ***
z: natural, ***, ***; sleep, life, instrument; forget, ***, ***
================================================================

The Lynu, the 'speakers' (thinkers?) of this telepathic language are
supposed to inhabit a planet in a galaxy some 101 000 lightyears away!

Srikanth claimed (fictionally) that Jamphuta and hLuuTik [L and T are
retroflex] and their child, Skalumbhi, a family living in the Chambal
valley of central India, held telepathic conversations with the Lynu and
conveyed the language to him
=================================================================

That's all folks!
Now back to BrSc

Ray.

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   XRICTOC ANECTH
======================

Replies

Aidan Grey <grey@...>Vocab #4
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>Vocab #4