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Re: S7 / Ithkuil semantic classification schemes

From:Henrik Theiling <theiling@...>
Date:Sunday, March 28, 2004, 23:47
Hi!

John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@...> writes:
> It was the 2nd-to-last change I made on the language prior to > posting it on the web (the last change being a complete revision of > the number system - the root structure of numbers used to be > centered on the prime numbers, but it was just too unwieldy).
Actually, I found the current Ithkuil number system a bit, errrm, normal. :-) If you wish, you can compare it to that of S2, which I designed to overcome the translation problems from Chinese/Japanese/Korean/... to German/English/... and vice versa (Hindi<->English numbers must be strange, too). Further, I liked Mandarin's handling of units and base words -- they work virtually the same. Also the abbreviations are nice: yi4 bai1 wu3 '1 hundred 5' = one hundred and fifty yi2 kuai4 wu3 '1 <unitofmoney> 5' = one Yuan fifty The most recent version is in the PostScript file (and since a few minutes ago in the PDF version) here: http://www.theiling.de/projects/s2/ Of course, the goal is different. For Ithkuil, you'd probably want something more like speed-talk, so your base-100 system may be more appropriate to achieve your goals. :-)
> By the way, in all our discussions, I failed to congratulate you on S7. > Impressive!
Oh, thanks! (But there's almost more on my website than vague thoughts I'm affraid.) S7 achieved another advantage for me: it's grammar is available in all detail in Lisp, so when I change something, all sample texts will automatically adjust. :-) That's a premiere and a great achievement for me. :-)
> The similarities here and there to Ithkuil and Telona only serve to > illustrate we're all on parallel thought wavelengths in our > approaches to "engelangs."
Hehe. :-) Although speedtalk is definitely not my goal. But regularity is, however. And precision without being forced to be precise. Due to my esthetic considerations, I'd consider S2 and S7 artlangs, rather than engelangs. **Henrik