Re: weekly vocab

Aidan Grey writes:
 > At 07:41 AM 4/3/2002 -0500, Muke wrote:
 > >  For example, zoo week, wherein
 > > > the 5 (or 10) words would all have to do with the zoo. Or the computer wee,
 > > > or the stew week, or the birthday week, or...
 > >
 > >The problem with something like that is... well, even with diverse vocab like
 > >this week's people already say things like 'my conculture doesn't have this'
 > >(birch trees are based on location, werewolves on mythology, etc.)  I imagine
 > >quite a few people would be left out with semantic fields like 'computer'
 > >for a
 > >week...
 >
 >     On the other hand, Languages are supposed to be able to communicate
 > something, possibly even anything. Even if there isn't a unique word for
 > any given concept, circumlocutions could be used. The Bible _has_ been
 > translated into languages that don't have a word for God, or that don't
 > have palm trees, or camels, or... So, if your lang doesn't have a word for
 > birch, then how would your speakers, upon seeing one for the first time,
 > name it? Words for car, gun, alcohol, and such in Native American languages
 > being great examples (often translate as something like white:man's-horse
 > or the infamous fire-water, for example).

It's a good point, but remember also that some conlangs are notionally
spoken by concultures which have never made contact with anyone with a
computer, for example.  Now, certainly it's possible to develop words
for "random-access memory" or "carburettor" or "fixed interest loan"
in a stone-age language, but if no-one in the culture's ever going to
use them I can see why people would be reluctant to make the effort.

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