Wordless language (WAS: NonVerbal Conlang?)

Moving this to a new thread...

On 6/28/06, Eldin Raigmore <eldin_raigmore@...> wrote:
> I want to open a third meaning;
> (3) a spoken-and-heard language without words.
...

> http://people.emich.edu/tseely/ondefinitionofword.htm
> is a very good introduction to the problem.
" Definition of a word:
                                    Stress
Phonological                 Vowel harmony
                                    Phonological processes

                                                      Mobility
Morphological-syntactic                    Uninterruptibility
                                                      Internal stability"

So how would a NLF2DWS fused symbol (or set of symbols, or whatever
you'd call the thing) fit? It would not be phonological in any sense
(perhaps one can create graphical analogs?). And because of the
fusion, it would be both interruptible and internally unstable; dunno
about mobility.


For that matter, can  anyone suggest a method of doing wordless
language that does not involve a fusional 2dws? It's all I can think
of, but surely there are other means...

FWIW, I think it's worth putting aside the question about whether
particles are "real words" or not, unless we're to talk about a
language that would somehow be entirely composed thereof. (What would
it be like?)

> http://assets.cambridge.org/052181/8990/sample/0521818990ws.pdf
> includes Dixon & Aikhenvald's quote of several grammarians, including
> Milewski, to the effect that the "word" is irrelevant, or at least not-very-
> relevant, in the polysynthetic languages of North America.
*haven't read that one* How so?

 - Sai

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