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Re: Creating a metaconlang; anyone want to join?

From:Jim Henry <jimhenry1973@...>
Date:Saturday, December 1, 2007, 17:21
On Nov 30, 2007 6:26 PM, Sai Emrys <sai@...> wrote:

> Recently I've been giving more serious thought to creating a > metaconlang. That is, a sort of grammar that can ride on top of an > existing language (English as a default, given its status as lingua > franca). It'd have a few features: > > * use semantic space* that isn't denotatively used by the language > itself (e.g. English doesn't have tone, clicks, facial gestures, > signing, so we could use any of that)
English does use tone, though not phonemically as "tonal" languages do. I suspect using suprasegmental tone as your extra channel will make English sound not just
> * be anywhere from almost undetectable to unobtrusive (on the level of > an odd mannerism / speech impediment)
but _really weird_. Relatively quiet clicks, and subtle alterations of facial expression, gesture, and posture are probably better things to explore.
> I see (b) as the most interesting variant, though (c) could also be useful...
I agree. Evidentiality, validationality, distinction of exclusivity for we/us/our and number for you/your; perhaps number marking for nouns that are invariant in English (deer, sheep, fish)... Things like that could be useful. -- Jim Henry http://www.pobox.com/~jimhenry/review/log.htm

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