Categorizing words

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silvercat
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Categorizing words

Post by silvercat »

I'm working on vocabulary building. At the moment, that means categorizing words, into things like family, food, basic verbs, etc to avoid exact repeats and work on deriving.

Which is where the trouble comes in. How do you define 'basic verb'? (Right now I'm doing anything that doesn't fall into another category). How do you categorize something like 'repeat'? How about 'miss' (opposite of 'hit') or 'stuck/stop/remain'?
my pronouns: they/them or e/em/eirs/emself
Main conlang: Ŋyjichɯn. Other conlangs: Tsɑkø (naming language), Ie, Tynthna, Maanxmuʃt, Ylialis
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Click
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Click »

Why don't you categorise words as nouns, verbs, adjectives and such? [;)]
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Omzinesý
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Omzinesý »

Nouns, adjectives... are formal categories, based on the behaviour of the items.

Family, body parts, animals... are sematic categories based on the meaning of the items.
Though I think basic verbs are part of the first one.

If you cover one semantic domain, like family members, at once, then you have a coherent system of them, but if you add one word today and another next week, you end up just translating from another language.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
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silvercat
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by silvercat »

2-4 wrote:Why don't you categorise words as nouns, verbs, adjectives and such? [;)]
I do of course, but that doesn't help with deriving and avoiding redundant words.
Omzinesý wrote:If you cover one semantic domain, like family members, at once, then you have a coherent system of them, but if you add one word today and another next week, you end up just translating from another language.
I do a mix of both - all of family is done, all sorts of pronouns, etc, but I'm slowly adding other words. Very little means exactly the same as it does in English, so I'm not worried about that. I just have all these words I'm trying to but in categorize that just make me scratch my head.
my pronouns: they/them or e/em/eirs/emself
Main conlang: Ŋyjichɯn. Other conlangs: Tsɑkø (naming language), Ie, Tynthna, Maanxmuʃt, Ylialis
All my conlangs
Conlanging blog posts
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Omzinesý
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Omzinesý »

I don't know. I've made just grammars for years. I really have to try to make a lexicon.
My meta-thread: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5760
Khemehekis
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Khemehekis »

I have something called the Landau Core Vocabulary. It's what you seem to be looking for -- something that can get you all the basic words categorized and covered. If you PM me your email address, I'll email the entire list to you.
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silvercat
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by silvercat »

Khemehekis wrote:I have something called the Landau Core Vocabulary. It's what you seem to be looking for -- something that can get you all the basic words categorized and covered. If you PM me your email address, I'll email the entire list to you.
Huh, that sounds interesting. I'll send you a PM. Thanks.
my pronouns: they/them or e/em/eirs/emself
Main conlang: Ŋyjichɯn. Other conlangs: Tsɑkø (naming language), Ie, Tynthna, Maanxmuʃt, Ylialis
All my conlangs
Conlanging blog posts
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MrKrov
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by MrKrov »

I'm incredulous you really need such a scheme and I'm incredulous he couldn't simply pm you the dubious list without invoking email.
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Ànradh
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Ànradh »

Perhaps it's in the form of a file attachment?
Sin ar Pàrras agus nì sinne mar a thogras sinn. Choisinn sinn e agus ’s urrainn dhuinn ga loisgeadh.
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Ear of the Sphinx »

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.
Khemehekis
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Khemehekis »

MrKrov wrote:I'm incredulous you really need such a scheme and I'm incredulous he couldn't simply pm you the dubious list without invoking email.
Really? I'd be able to PM someone a list with more than 4,000 words without it saying the message is too large?
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Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by MrKrov »

I'm inclined to think yes altho Aszev would have to confirm.
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by xijlwya »

silvercat wrote:Which is where the trouble comes in. How do you define 'basic verb'? (Right now I'm doing anything that doesn't fall into another category). How do you categorize something like 'repeat'? How about 'miss' (opposite of 'hit') or 'stuck/stop/remain'?
I'd suggest to look at various thesuari as well! The one I have home offers a very well-structured approach to semantic categories. Unfortunately the only ones only have search functions - I somehow couldn't find one that lets you browse through the categories. Also, I'm not anywhere near my home right now... so I have no access to my thesaurus.
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Khemehekis »

MrKrov wrote:I'm inclined to think yes altho Aszev would have to confirm.
Well, I guess this settles it:

Your message contains 109725 characters. The maximum number of allowed characters is 60000.
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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MrKrov
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by MrKrov »

I commend you on your timelyness. Just send two pms then.
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Re: Categorizing words

Post by Khemehekis »

MrKrov wrote:I commend you on your timelyness.

For clarification: I sent Silvercat my email a long time ago. It's just that a few days ago, Benjamino, a new user, sent me a PM asking for the LCV and I tried PM'ing it to him, as you suggested.
♂♥♂♀

Squirrels chase koi . . . chase squirrels

My Kankonian-English dictionary: 86,336 words and counting

31,416: The number of the conlanging beast!
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