New CBB

The Landau Core Vocabulary, formerly the Landau Universal Vocabulary, is a list of over 4,000 concepts that can be translated by words (or suffixes, prefixes, cases or other grammatical phenomena) in natlangs and conlangs.

The list is divided up into five parts.

The first part is my famous Basic 150 list -- 150 very basic, common and universal words. You can start your conlang out by coining words for these 150 concepts.

The second part is grammatical concepts, cases and postpositions/prepositions, adverbs, degrees for adjectives, verb forms, pronouns, interjections, etc. Function words basically.

The third part is number words.

The fourth part is content words arranged by category. These are common words, although your list may be different depending on the culture of the speakers. An asterisk denotes that the word is one of the basic 150, so if you have done the basic 150 you have already coined it.

The fifth part goes into depth in several categories. These words are less frequently used than the words in the fourth part, but are still part of the core vocabulary of modern Earth languages. A lot of these words are culture-dependent, and your language may do without large swaths of these.

The appendix includes some names. This part is intended mainly for people writing sentences in their conlangs -- for people who are tired of using John or Mary for every sentence.

I have recently been working on the Miscellaneous category in part 4. I have been lifting words out of it and fitting them in other categories. However, there are 14 words that stump me -- words I can't find a category for:

set, ready
poor (to be pitied)
exact
liable, likely
mass
obvious
successful
circumstance
guide
time, occasion
ability
load
travel
trick

Let's see if we can work together to find out what category each word should go under.

For reference, here are the categories in part 4:

Miscellaneous
Directions
Adjectives that tell which one
Quality
Colors
Taste
Physical characteristics -- opposites
Entity
Sides of an object
Parts
Same and different
Cause and effect
Linking verbs
Vaic verbs (to begin, to finish, to stop, to continue, to resume . . .)
Adjectives of aspect
Adjectives of extent and sphere
Common and uncommon
Private and public
Measures
Collective nouns
Events
Place
Active entertainment
Passive entertainment
Achieving things
Manner and method
Civics and institutions
Rules and morality
Crime
Money
Reality
Ideals
Change
Inclusion and exclusion
Connection and separation
Friendship and altruism
Significance
Ideas
Thought
Thinking verbs
Feeling verbs
Speaking verbs
Verbs of creation
Giving and receiving
Verbs of physical contact
Verbs of position
Handling matter
Expressions and gestures
Bodily eunctions
The five senses
Your day
Verbs of movement
Verbs of physical aggression
Verbs of war
Damage and conflict
The natural world
Water
Husbandry and farming
Time
Form
Weights and measures
Substances
Metals
Physics
Food & drink
Drugs
Places
Establishments
Artificial locations
Music
Language
Identifying information
Published material
Containers
Vehicles
Parts of a car
Tools
Weapons
Musical instruments
School
Subjects of academic study
Electronics
Other manmade objects
Parts of the house
Clothing
Plant parts
Animal body
Human body
Physical description
Physical condition
Medicine
Life, philosophy, religion
Events in life
The workplace
Emotions
Personality
Plants
Animals
Family
People

Part 5 has more advanced words in many of the same categories, and adds a few new ones:

Other elements
Place names, ethnicxties, nationalities, languages
Sea travel
Arithmetic
Primitive life-forms

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

A clarification: I'm posting this so I can get help with where to put those 14 words.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Very well thought out indeed!

I use slightly different basic concepts when taking into consideration the roots I will need to produce enough words in Sa'u'o (a poly lang); this brings up the question: does a lang need this many roots in your opinion, this many words, or simply a way of expressing every concept, sometimes more than 1 per concept, sometimes 1 for several concepts?

_________________
Ma tihuiyacan, yece ye nican in xochinahuatilo, yece ye nican in cuicanahuatilo tlalticpac. Ehuaya! Xi mocuiltonocan xi moquimilocan a in tocnihuan. Ohuaya ohuaya.

I forgot to mention some things that you may wish to consider in your Landau core vocabulay:

In many parts of New Guinea, body parts and numbers are very closely related (by means of the extended body part system); thus, many body parts and numbers could overlap.

If I do remember correctly, on wiki it says that body parts and function words partially overlap by means of relational nouns in Mesoamerica in particular.

These are just some things you may wish to consider, but I think your list is a great piece of work.

_________________
Ma tihuiyacan, yece ye nican in xochinahuatilo, yece ye nican in cuicanahuatilo tlalticpac. Ehuaya! Xi mocuiltonocan xi moquimilocan a in tocnihuan. Ohuaya ohuaya.

This is what I'd go with. This word list is pretty awesome though.

set, ready - adj of aspect
poor (to be pitied) description
exact - identifying info
liable, likely - description
mass - physics
obvious - description
successful - adj of description
circumstance - cause and effect?
guide - v or n?
time, occasion - events
ability - description
load v or n?
travel - v of movement
trick - v or n?

_________________
Ikasmu ati'uki nai uraiur.
Hinai nimuśim naimi nai sasamiur urukani. Śi'ama nai huhumiur na ni'amuśim nai sasamiur.
Pumaki nimuśim śima'a na ami nimuśim ara'a. Hini nihrasum i'aku tumra urukani na nihrasum sanik hraspir.

Thanks!



I'd say simply a way of expressing every concept. I have both "success" and "successful" in my list, for instance, and these can be expressed with two words using the same root. And many words for higher technology will be formed by deriving or compounding existing roots, roots that have been in the language for centuries before the speakers needed a word for the technology. (Of course, you can borrow too, the way Indo-European, Afro-Asiatic and Austronesian languages borrow the Greek roots for telephone (tyelyefon, telefoni) or Japanese borrows from Chinese roots (denwa).)

Nor does it have to be one word per concept on this list -- look at the personal pronouns: you may want gender and animacy distinction in the third person pronouns, inclusive and exclusive we, and informal and formal you (for singular and plural you), and have fourth person like Esperanto "li" and "si", and have 14 personal pronouns, or you could have none of these and do with only 6 personal pronouns.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Adjectoves of aspect is words like moral, political, legal, spiritual. Set/ready wouldn't belong there.



The only "description" list I have is physical description. I don't have a catch-all category for adiectives.



Hmmmmm . . . this is stuff like "name", "age", "ZIP code", "male", "female", "marital status". Do you think it would work here because of contexts like "exact height" and "exact weight"?



Actually, I do have a word "mass" under physics. The noun. But this is the second "mass", the adjective, as in "weapons of mass destruction".



Thanks. I'll put it there.



All action verbs are identified on this list by the word "to": to guide, to load, to trick. So these are the nouns.



Ooh, good one.



I already have "travel" the verb under "verb of movement". I'm looking for a home for "travel" the noun.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Grammatical aspect on the brain, i guess.


Perhaps under measures then?


Hmm... also under measures? Is measures like feet, inches, kg? Maybe a quantifier group?


:D

exact- same and different
guide (person) - people
guide (instructions)- school? it is a way of learning
load - collective noun
trick (cards)- active entertainment, active because the person performing has to put intend and put effort into it
trick (practical joke) - active entertainment
trick (prostitution) - lol. active entertainment
travel- event maybe


lol. I just noticed Dvorak on the surname list.

_________________
Ikasmu ati'uki nai uraiur.
Hinai nimuśim naimi nai sasamiur urukani. Śi'ama nai huhumiur na ni'amuśim nai sasamiur.
Pumaki nimuśim śima'a na ami nimuśim ara'a. Hini nihrasum i'aku tumra urukani na nihrasum sanik hraspir.

Ha ha ha! Habitual aspect, punctual aspect, durative aspect, protractive aspect . . .

I wonder if "progressive" would be the first thing that came to mind if you asked a conlanger to make an association with the word "aspect".



Good idea. I'll put it there.


Hmm... also under measures? Is measures like feet, inches, kg? Maybe a quantifier group?[/quote]

It is . . . but I also have "number", "amount", "to measure", "to count" and "to weigh [so many pounds/kilograms]" in that section.



Hadn't thought the human sense of guide was important enough to include, but now that you mention it I should probably have it. Added to "people".



Good point. I do have words like "lesson" in that section, after all.



Good idea. I was so puzzled with "load" I thought that would be the last one I'd find a category for.



Placed there, in both senses.



You know, I was considering a "Sex" category, but all the words that would go there find neatly under other classes.



I'll place it there.



It's one of the five most common Czech surnames.

By the way, I've finally found categories for "ability" and "likely, liable". The former goes under Achieving things and the latter goes under Reality.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

"Obvious" was placed under Thought.

"Successful" was placed under Achieving things . . . same category as "success".

"Set, ready" was placed under Achieving things, since when you are ready for something you are about to do it.

What we still need to find a home for: "mass" (the adjective) and "poor" (to be pitied).

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

"Mass" has been placed under Measures (not to be coneused with "Weights and measures").

MEASURES
degree
length
height
width
size
weight
temperature
depth
speed
age
distance
strength
quality
low (degree)
high (degree)
moderate
extreme
mass (on a wide scale)

Now all we need is a home for "poor", as in "Poor Meghan!" Anyone?

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Well, I was going over the list when I found "pity / pitiful / pitiful / to pity / --" in my list of emotions. Now it reads:

pity / pitiful / pitiful, poor / to pity / --

I've done it!

I've gotten rid of my Miscellaneous section!

Ossicone, expect a new email soon.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Sweetness.
Happy to have helped.

_________________
Ikasmu ati'uki nai uraiur.
Hinai nimuśim naimi nai sasamiur urukani. Śi'ama nai huhumiur na ni'amuśim nai sasamiur.
Pumaki nimuśim śima'a na ami nimuśim ara'a. Hini nihrasum i'aku tumra urukani na nihrasum sanik hraspir.

I want to add the item "to light, to ignite" to the LCV. But I can't decide whether to put it under Verbs oe Physical Contact or Handling Matter.

VERBS OF PHYSICAL CONTACT
to knock
to pull*
to push*
to push, to press
to shake
to pick
to reach
to touch
to kiss
to embrace
to caress
to tap (on the shoulder)
to rub
to scrape
to beat, to pound
to play (guitar, piano)
to play (recorder, trumpet)
to play (drums)
to blow*
to squeeze (a fruit)
to strike
to stick, to adhere
to cling
to turn (off or on)
to operate (perform surgery)
to leave alone

HANDLING MATTER
to throw*
to open
to close, to shut
to lock
to cover
to pass (along)
to arrange
to put, to place
to lay down
to set
to stand (~ it on the counter)
to leave (~ it at the door)
to distribute
to scatter
to hold
to grab
to pick up
to carry
to carry in hand
to carry on the shoulder
to carry on the head
to carry under the arm
to lift
to drop
to handle
to remove
to throw away
to recycle
to get rid of
to pour
to fill
to empty
to break*
to cut*
to shatter
to slit
to split
to tear
to puncture
to carve
to squash, to crush
to smash
to grind
to chop down
to fold
to bend
to wrap
to strain
to connect
to fix
to spread
to stretch
to dig
to skin

(And yes, I know some languages distinguish "to crush" from "to squash" but use the same word for "to crush" and "to grind".)

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Another question.

I've expanded the surname section so that I list the ten, rather than the five, most common surnames for each ethnic/language group. I now have 420 surnames in the appendix. But I can't find a list of the ten most common Ukrainian surnames anywhere. Does anybody here know what they are?

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

I've added a new category with some words in Part IV and some words in Part V:

Computers.

(Any help with to light/ignite and the Ukrainian surnames?)

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Where and how could one of us (could I) find the Landau Universal or Core Vocabulary?
Is it available online?

Here http://feminafelis.tripod.com/tgl.html, maybe?
Or here http://www2.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~jrk/conlang.html?
Or here http://riks.korea.ac.kr/bmkang/Artificial%20Languages.htm?

I tried http://pages.prodigy.com/kankonia/luv.html but I could never load the page into my browser.

---

BTW "Landau" is your RL surname, isn't it?

_________________
I am not responsible for the accuracy of my sources; they're responsible for their own mistakes, if any, and also responsible for defending their own statements if you disagree with them.

It's not yet online.

I'll email it to you via the email you've given me.



Yes, it is.

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

Today I decided I should add the word "customs" to my Landau Core Vocabulary. I thought and I thought, and decided that no category in the LCV was a plausible category eor "customs". For that reason, I started a new category in Section V: Air Travel. With the words "airplane" and "helicopter" already under Vehicles and "airport" already under Places, I came up with this list under the Air Travel category:

cockpit
control tower
customs
duty-free shop
runway

What other words should be in here?

_________________
My Kankonian-English dictionary: 36,000 entries and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!

(NOTE: as you suggested some of these may already occur in other sections)

Ticket (if different from a bus or movie ticket)
Boarding-pass
luggage
trunk (taxi, car)
overhead compartment
seat-belt
oxygen-mask
coach/first class distinction (if different from a train or bus)
stewardess/flight hostess
arrivals
departures
metal detector
gate
baggage claim
flight schedule
dutiable
lounge
"goods to declare"