Re: Word categories (Was: Re: Borrowing Wordlist)

 --- Rene Uittenbogaard <ruittenb@...> skrev:
> H. S. Teoh wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 19, 2004 at 01:19:40PM -0400, Yann
> Kiraly wrote:
> >
> >>I am designing an easy to learn conlang. I wonder
> if it would be illegal
> >>and/or bad to take Odgen's list of basic english
> words and translate it,
> >>as a guide of which words are necessary for a (at
> least basicaly) complete
> >>lexicon. I would add many adverbs to avoid using
> to many idioms.
> >
> >
> > Funny you should mention this, but I've just been
> compiling a list of
> > word categories which I intend to use to fill up
> gaps in Tatari
> > Faran's lexicon.
(snip)
>
> Some categories that seem to be missing (are they
> included in the above
> categorization? Or are they not "basic" enough?)
>
> religion/superstitions (gods, demons, rituals,
> afterlife)
> science/medicine (experimenting, illness, disease,
> healing)
> literature/art/music (prose, poetry, painting,
> sculpting, acting, singing)
> economics (trade, currency, taxes)
> number system/math (numerals, math expressions)
> materials/substances (wood, metal, air, water ..)
>
Hmm, this begins to look like the 'Thesaurus
Larousse'. The plan of the concepts it gives is the
following (every sub-chapter having usually paragraphs
a, b, c..., every one with roughly 2 to 20 entries, I
won't give the detail here):

A. WORLD
 I. THE GREAT NOTIONS
  1. Existence
  2. Relation
  3. Cause
  4. Order
  5. Quantity
  6. Number
 II. SPACE
  1. Dimensions
  2. Outlines
  3. Shape
  4. Structure
  5. Position
  6. Localisation
 III. TIME
  1. Generalities
  2. Chronology
  3. Evolution
 IV. MOVEMENT
  1. Movement
  2. Force
 V. MATERIAL
  1. Sciences of Material
  2. Properties of Material
  3. Elements and Materials
  4. Earth surrounding
 VI. LIFE
  1. Generalities
  2. Plants
  3. Animals
B. MAN
 I. GENERALITIES
  1. Person
  2. Ages of Life
 II. BODY
  1. Body Parts
  2. Body Functions
  3. Perception
  4. Body States
  5. Health & Disease
  6. Medicine
 III. SPIRIT
  1. Intelligence
  2. Affectivity
  3. Spiritual Life
 IV. WILL & ACTION
  1. Will
  2. Action
C. SOCIETY
 I. SOCIAL RELATIONS
  1. Personal Relations
  2. Hierarchies
  3. Conflicts
 II. COLLECTIVE LIFE
  1. Social Organization
  2. Morals
 III. COMMUNICATION
  1. Generalities
  2. Signs & Meaning
  3. Supports & Vectors for Communication
  4. Arts
 IV. PROFESSIONS & ACTIVITIES
  1. Employment
  2. Industry
  3. Agriculture & Fishing
  4. Transports
  5. Economical Exchanges
  6. Daily Life

(For ex, B.III.1 [Man/Spirit/Intelligence] is
subdivided into: a. Understanding, b. Knowledge, c.
Reasoning, d. Judgement, e. Values; the latter
(Values) has the following entries: 434 Quality, 435
Mediocrity, 436 Beauty, 437 Ugliness, 438 Importance,
439 Insignificance. Every entry gives all possible
terms related to it, organized more or less by
syntactic categories).

So all possible concepts are supposed to be included,
and organized, in this book (about 1 kilogram I
guess). Any more questions ?


=====
Philippe Caquant


Ceterum censeo *vi* esse oblitterandum (Me).

Reply