Re: Bootstrapping a cooperative conlang

--- MorphemeAddict@WMCONNECT.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 11/16/2007 1:56:43 PM Central Standard Time,
> fiziwig@YAHOO.COM writes:
>
>
> > I'm reminded of Wierzbicka's NSM definition of "mouse" which runs 33 lines
> > of
> > text with 355 words*, covering such things as category, habitat, size,
> > appearance, etc. etc., all to narrow down the concept until "mouse" is the
> > only
> > thing that fits the bill. While theoretically fascinating, for the purpose
> of
> > building a practical language for everyday use, a simple picture of a mouse
> > would have sufficed. A picture truely is worth 355 words in this instance.
> >
>
> Her explication of "mouse" is so long because the meaning is so complex.  A
> picture of a mouse could also mean lots of different things, such as just
> "animal", or "pest", or the color of the mouse (if not black and white).
>
> For the explication of a word in this new language, they need not have all
> the detail of the corresponding English word.  The detail could be added
> separately.
>
> stevo
>
Easily solved: The dictionary definition would consist of a picture of a mouse
with the caption, "Mouse: the animal pictured above."

--gary