Re: conlan/natlang coincidences

On Tue, 17 Jun 2003, Mark J. Reed wrote:

>
> I would really like to derive a language in steps from a protolanguage.
> The protolanguage could still have randomly-generated roots, but there'd
> be a small, fixed number of them, probably all monosyllabic, and I'd have
> to come up with ways they may have been combined to represent new ideas
> over time, as well as sets of sound changes, morphology changes
> (separate turning into inflections, like "verb-did" -> "verbed" in English),
> etc.  It would be intense, difficult, time-consuming - and very satisfying.
>
John Leland here: this is almost exactly how I created Rihana-ye: I set up
a series of monosyllabic basic words, and *all* subsequent vocabulary has
been created by combining those words.  I had already been thinking of
posting the Rihana basic chart here anyway, but to give a brief example,
all words  on the chart were open cv syllables, and meanings were assigned
depending on what I thought would be basic to my conculture (which it will
be noticed was sexist, militaristic, and hierarchical--very unlike the
intended cultures of many utopian linguists today.) Thus the chart begins:
     noun    prep.           adj       verb    adv.         number
     ba man  be to (superior)bi fierce bo take bu fiercely  by 1
     ka woman ke from       ki kind    ko give ku kindly    ky 2
     da child de to(inferior) di small do receive du slightly dy 3
and so on. Then for instance biba fierce+man=warrior etc.
I should note that theoretically vowels in Rihana-ye only have one value
apiece, though I believe if someone taped my speaking it, the evidence
would be that I do not actually live up to that.

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