Re: CHAT: proto-language

On Fri, 18 Dec 1998, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:

>    Date:         Fri, 18 Dec 1998 12:57:27 PST
>    From: Danny Wier <dawier@...>
>
>    Here's the website for anyone who might be curious:
>
>    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/2803
>
>    The basis for the language is that words can be traced back to ninety CV
>    monosyllables (thirty consonants and three vowels.
> But, of course, the problem with Mr. Ryan is that he insists that his
> fevered fantasies are built on sound scientific work. He would have a
> nice conlang if he was a bit more systematic in constructing words
> from his basic syllables and stopped pretending that it had any basis
> in reality.
Well, yes. I've been trying to categorize roots for my
conlang in an attempt to break away from Indo-european
and get a dictionary that would truly "index" itself.
Maybe it would be fun to post Top-20 lists of adjectives,
verbs, etc? Or let's say a new object or animal were discovered,
perhaps on another planet; how would we name it? That could
give some insight into primitive roots and word-building.
Using just 90 roots derived from a consistent plan
ala Proto-Ryan would enforce a certain discipline ...
Perhaps 78 would be better, matching up with Tarot cards.