Re: CHAT: query: where to start?

Recall that the sci-fi novel "Dune" uses an arabic based
conlang. This has been written up (linguistically) in one
of the commentaries.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Yoon Ha Lee" <yl112@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, August 09, 2000 10:26 AM
Subject: query: where to start?


> Hello,
> I've been semi-lurking since I got on this list.  I suppose you might
> call me a beginning conlanger; I printed out something like 150 pages of
> conlang material from the web for personal reference this summer!
>
> Anyway--I've been working on an ancestor language for a language in a
> story (how's that for too many prepositional phrases?).  I read an
> article on Arabic morphological structure, and thought, What a neat
> idea!  So I've been using three-consonant morphemes, with affixes to form
> root verbs, adjectives, etc.
>
> However, I *don't* know any Arabic except "salaam."  :-/  My question
> was, should I hold off on this until I can learn some Arabic in the
> nebulous future, and stick to the languages I know something about?
Well, you can "learn by doing."

> (Hindbrain Korean, some idea of Japanese grammatical structure but not
> fluent in any sense, beginning German, a couple weeks' worth of Latin,
> and some French.  Too many Indo-European, darnit.)  Or should I just try
> to learn as much as I can about how Arabic works?  (I borrowed a couple
> features from other languages.)
>
> Sorry if this is a dumb question.  :-/
>
> Yoon Ha Lee
What sources have you on Arabic?
Then there are other Semitic languages from Akkadian to
Modern Hebrew.  Lots on the Internet.

LEO