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Re: Bootstrapping a cooperative conlang

From:<morphemeaddict@...>
Date:Friday, November 16, 2007, 13:47
In a message dated 11/16/2007 2:31:41 AM Central Standard Time,
fiziwig@YAHOO.COM writes:


> A simplified example: > > Core vocabulary > --------------- > a - to, toward, at > alo - say > amensa - know > ashani - someone > asi - be (to be someone/something, to have some trait) > den - a thing, something > denau - this thing > deso - want/desire > emaru - bad > ena - and, also, in addition > entu - not > espeli - meaning > faso - see > foren - before > kui - like, similar to > kus - because > pono - good > punta - now > pusha - do > shanu - person, people > tambo - word, words > tensa - think > varen - true > vene - if >
Of these words, "a", "asi", "denau", "ena", and "espeli" are not primitive NSM concepts. Also, NSM has 'person, someone' and 'people' as primitives, whereas "ashani" (someone) and "shanu" (person, people) split these ideas differently. "ashani" and "shanu" both contain "shan", as if that were a shared morpheme. If this is the case, then I suggest eliminating one from the basic list. Also "den" (a thing, something) and "denau" (this thing) both contain "den". Does the apparent suffix "-au" on "denau" mean 'this'? If so, then perhaps it should be a separate entry, if not an entirely separate word. stevo </HTML>