Words to include in a constructed language?
Over ten years ago, I started to create the Trai'Pahg'Nan'Nog language, a trade language for my Traipah culture that is supposed to be a conlang even in that universe. But I've encountered problems with it. The rules of the language are basically a mix of English and Spanish rules (mostly English), and I started coming up with words in some really random ways, so that English words that one would think would be some of the first to get translated into TPNN don't have translations yet (like the shapes, for goodness sake!). Also, I was using related words to come up with new words, and given that some of these words were kind of long to begin with (heck, the word for "long" is 6 syllables long), trying to actually say much of anything in TPNN gets harder the more you try to say.
So I started a new conlang, called Trai'Pahg'Shah'Gog. I'm designing TPSG with an eye towards short words (1, 2, and 3 syllable base words) and a greater modular-ness but a higher number of base words (eventually). I've already made some impressive strides toward shortening things. For example, "I will run" in the original TPNN is "Thiin yahsoh hiahn." In TPSG, the same sentence would be "Fyortekeg." From about 5 syllables to 3. (And in TPNN it might have been longer than that; I can't seem to find the proper word for "run." Hiahn I took from dropping the "ihn" in the name "Hiahnihn," which means "runner.) And a bunch of really long words already have shortened versions. (Shortening TPNN words a lot speeds things up.)
Anyway, what I really need is a list of concepts/words to include in this new conlang. I have shapes and numbers done, and I'm making headway on a list of adjectives from Wikipedia. Oh, and colors! But where my first attempt basically had me translating words as I needed them, I'd like to do TPSG somewhat systematically. So any suggestions, like lists of common concepts/words, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Crossposted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org
So I started a new conlang, called Trai'Pahg'Shah'Gog. I'm designing TPSG with an eye towards short words (1, 2, and 3 syllable base words) and a greater modular-ness but a higher number of base words (eventually). I've already made some impressive strides toward shortening things. For example, "I will run" in the original TPNN is "Thiin yahsoh hiahn." In TPSG, the same sentence would be "Fyortekeg." From about 5 syllables to 3. (And in TPNN it might have been longer than that; I can't seem to find the proper word for "run." Hiahn I took from dropping the "ihn" in the name "Hiahnihn," which means "runner.) And a bunch of really long words already have shortened versions. (Shortening TPNN words a lot speeds things up.)
Anyway, what I really need is a list of concepts/words to include in this new conlang. I have shapes and numbers done, and I'm making headway on a list of adjectives from Wikipedia. Oh, and colors! But where my first attempt basically had me translating words as I needed them, I'd like to do TPSG somewhat systematically. So any suggestions, like lists of common concepts/words, would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Crossposted from http://fayanora.dreamwidth.org