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

From:Nik Taylor <fortytwo@...>
Date:Sunday, November 8, 1998, 5:18
/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. -- "It has occured to me more than once that holy boredom is good and sufficient reason for the invention of free will." - "Lord Leto II" (Dune Chronicles, by Frank Herbert) http://members.tripod.com/~Nik_Taylor/X-Files/ ICQ #: 18656696 AOL screen-name: NikTailor