Re: Evolving shades of meaning (was Re: LUNATIC again)

/Joe Mondello wrote:
> This is why, in my projects, i often write several synoyms for adjectives into
> the language, then gradually in usage create a change in meaning.
> eg. BEFORE:  gluun, tref, thush: new
> AFTER: gluun: new
> tref: innovative, never before seen.
> thush: variant, a [new] member of a [new] subcategory
> does anyone else do this?
> pacs precs
> joe Mondello
Interesting method.  I may have to use that.  In my first project I did
that on accident.  I'd forget that I had created a word for something,
so I'd recreate it, later I'd assign variations to that.  Such
differences aren't hard for me.  What's harder is lumping words together
in a logical way, i.e., deciding which distinctions made in English to
get rid of, and, even harder still, to completely redraw the semantic
borders.  My favorite example from W. is la'u/kapati'.  La'u and kapati'
both can be translated as "eat, drink, smoke, etc.".  They involve the
in-take of any substance thru the mouth.  La'u is used in social
settings (eating and drinking with a community, for example), while
kapati' is used in non-social settings (an exile eating, for example, or
an animal eating).  I have other examples of that, where two or three
words will fail to make a distinction made in English, while
incorporating a distinction which English ignores.

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