inventing words (was Re: Three questions from a lurker)

>I found this very interesting.  What are some of the words that you've
>come up with in this way?  What does "ty=EBrn" mean, for example?
The majority of such words have to do with various conceptual structures,
data processing, thinking in general; natural languages tend not to have
many words for such things, whereby they are a major focal point of my
language.  To introduce a few other kinds (ty=EBrn is at the bottom):

las, lasel (s is always pronounced "ss") : one of my favorite words for
  a person, this has a meaning similar in some ways to English "mature", bu=
t
  obviously not equivalent to it, as even some children can be "las" while =
the
  majority of adults are not.  A lasel is free of prejudices, hypocrisy, fa=
lse
  conceptions about him/herself, knows his/her powers and is appropriately
  self-confident in his/her actions (why is English so pathetic that it doe=
sn't
  have a word for he/she?  Pretty soon I'm going to start writing "del" ;).
  A lasel is free from psychological hindrances to his/her altering his/her
  environment at will, within the confines of moral behavior (e.g. someone
  who "alters" his neighbor's too-loud stereo by means of a rifle is not
  especially "las" :).  The word also implies a certain degree of social
  agility (of a benevolent kind), open-mindedness, and resourcefulness.
  This "definition" probably sounds like quite a linguistic cocktail, but o=
nly
  because all the closest English equivalents dance around it like a tribal
  bonfire; to me it is a very simple and natural concept.
kec (pronounced "kesh") =3D (to use) a stereotyped pattern of behavior whic=
h has
  become a psychological phenomenon disconnected from its original purpose,=
 or
  one which is performed "blindly" without any real understanding of the
  cause-and-effect behind the action.  The speaking of ritual "magic words"
  is an example of a kec, so are many religious ceremonies (d=EBvakec); but=
 kec
  doesn't neccessarily involve supernatural/religious beliefs -- if I disco=
ver
  that two solid slaps from the left followed by one from the right to my
  computer's case will get it to stop humming like a lawnmower, and I reall=
y
  don't know just why this works (though I fully expect some simple physica=
l
  explanation), then this pattern becomes a kec, at least until I understan=
d it
  better.  An action performed without even knowning the purpose, but
  assuming there is one, is also a kec (obsessive behavior, encouraged
  more by an emotional urge than a belief, is not kec). Habits are not
  neccessarily kec, though a kec can become habitual of course.
klayn =3D "fractal", divisible into parts of the same description.  A thing=
 is
  klayn with respect to some property if you can break it down into smaller
  parts which have that same property.  For instance, you can pick apart a
  chestnut leaf (which is where the word first arose, before I had heard
  about fractions, much less fractals :) into five or so smaller units whic=
h
  are also leaves.  If you try to pick one of these apart you no longer get
  leaves, but objects which are only pieces of leaves.
  Human society is also "klayn"; the collective consciousness of the entire=
ty
  of humankind can be thought of as one giant mind, "Vand" or "Elvand" (yes=
, it
  comes from "van" -- I; when you pluralize "van" what you are doing is
  including other people with yourself in a collective "metamind" ("vayd"),=
 and
  claiming to be speaking on behalf of that collective mind and will.  Plea=
se
  don't associate Arov=EBn with the Borg; an Aro=EBl vayd is somewhat diffe=
rent :),
  which can be broken down arbitrarily into any number of smaller generaliz=
ed
  consciousness-es ("held=EF") -- the Europeans, the Mauritians, the Espera=
ntists,
  the denizens of the local lunatic asylum -- these last are probably more
  characteristic than anyone of today's still very mentally-disturbed human
  consciousness :-)
 =20
ty=EBrn : this word has a very artistic character and is always applied to =
people.
  A Ty=EBrnel is a person who lives their life as if it were in itself a wo=
rk of
  abstract art, their masterpiece-in-the-making, always unfinished, always
  changing.  That work is to them the highest aim in life, really the most
  important thing in it -- more important than money or comfort or social s=
tatus
  or even personal happiness and well-being; such a person would sleep in a
  closet their life long if it were to allow them greater perfection in the=
ir
  art. That's about the best I can do to describe the word in a few sentenc=
es --
  or maybe in any number of sentences; it's one of those subjective concept=
s
  you would have to write a whole book about before you can have portrayed
  accurately.
  I very rarely meet someone who strikes me as ty=EBrn, but when I do it se=
ems
  as obvious to me as if they were wearing a sign on their foreheads.
  There is of course no way to strictly define such a quality, but there is
  also no need; no one is ever going to have to fill out a form indicating
  whether they are classified as Ty=EBrnel or An'ty=EBrnel ;-)
  "Ty=EBr" is a color, a sort of pastel reddish-orange.
 =20


>I've only ever come up with one Tokana word in this way, namely "kemet".
>When a bunch of pigeons suddenly all fly up into the air, circle around,
>and then land in an altogether better place, that action is called
>"kemet".  Or when a bunch of fallen leaves are blown up into the air
>by a gust of wind, fly around, and then fall back down to earth again,
>that's "kemet".  There are other examples of "kemet" as well, which in
>my mind seemed to form a natural class.  The best definition I could come
>up with is "the sudden, spontaneous, collective movement of a large group
>of small objects".
I like this word a lot, and I don't have such a word.  The closest equivale=
nts
would be "ayvannend" (which has to do with a group of many objects settling
down after chaotic activity) or "flens", to scatter in the wind.  The
synchronized group reaction of a flock of birds or a school of fish is "tv=
=EBn",
so you might call a sudden group take-off of birds "tv=EBfyors wilv=EFay", =
but this
isn't as elegant as "kemet".  It gives no assurance at all that they're eve=
r
going to land again, either :-)



Josh Shinavier