Re: A ravening of ravens

Jim Henry wrote:
>
> On 3/28/06, Peter Bleackley ... wrote:
>
> > I know also of an army of caterpillars. I believe that there are some
> > really bizarre ones in English.
>
> This search turns up a fair number of lists of such.
>
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=crash+unkindness+gaggle+flock

Thanks, guys!  I'd never heard of "crash" in this
sense.  The first link returned by Google:
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/info/faqs/animals/names.htm
gives a neatly categorised set of tables of such
terms.  I've saved it for reference.

And the second link returned by Google has most
of the same terms, but is part of a larger site, on
which I found this fascinating information:
http://rinkworks.com/words/contronyms.shtml

A pair of antonyms, as we all know, are words
opposite in meaning to each other.   A contronym
is a word which is its own antonym, eg (the verbs)
"rent" or "cleave".

Does your conlang have any contronyms or (to use
its synonym) antagonyms?

And could one design a language to make the
likelihood of contronyms small?

A related question: how to design a conlang to
minimise - or at least delay - the occurrence of
homophones - words of similar sound but different
meanings.  English abounds in homophones, eg "pier"
and "peer"; is this due to its almost indiscriminate
borrowing, or just bad luck (aka "the law of
averages")?  My French teacher related how, as
a young man staying at a pension in Paris for the
first time in the  early fifties, he had dressed to go
out to dinner.  When he went downstairs, the lady
proprietor inspected his attire, and exclaimed,
rather frostily he thought, "Élégant!"  He thanked
her kindly, and went out.  Later he discovered that
she had really been asking why he wore no gloves:
"Et les gants?" ... so even an august and venerable
Académie cannot protect a language from itself!

I'm still interested in knowing whether any of
your conlangs has some collective nouns beyond
the ordinary.

Regards,
Yahya


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