The Lexicon Building Counselling Service

[Izambri]

Doesn't happen to you that, when conlanging, you're trying to find the perfect word for that concept and you end coming with more than one candidate?
Well, sometimes (not very often) I have this dilemma; that very moment when I would need a Lexicon Building Counselling Service.

I've come with four possible words for "onion", and I'm not sure which is better to resume the concept of "not so beautiful, and has horrible taste". In other cases I would take all four and put them as dialectal forms, but in this case I may use each one for different meanings:

grese ['gɾɛzə]
grefe ['gɾɛfə] or grofe ['gɾɔfə]
berce ['bɛɾsə]

Obviously the whole thing is very subjective, related to how the words sound and, possibly, the look of the written forms.

Some suggestions, anyone?

[Soap]

Is this conlang from scratch, or is there a parent language?

Sometimes with Poswa and Pabappa I'll make as many as 30 forms of the same word, and just let them sit there until I decide which ones I want. Even then I might keep some of the unused ones and mark them as "ARCHAIC". In almost all cases though, these words are compounds of other words, and are taken from the parent language.

I love onions though. Great with almost any type of sandwich.

[Izambri]

Is this conlang from scratch, or is there a parent language?

Hellesan is a priori conlang.

Sometimes with Poswa and Pabappa I'll make as many as 30 forms of the same word, and just let them sit there until I decide which ones I want. Even then I might keep some of the unused ones and mark them as "ARCHAIC".

I do the same; generally is a thing I like to decide by myself (because conlanging is a personal thing to me, after all). In this case, though, I'm not sure what to do.

[MIGUELbM]

grofe sound best for me.

This should be a sticky

[Nortaneous]

I was hoping berce would have [ts], but for me: berce > grofe > grefe > grese.

(also, the Insular Kett word for 'onion' is now bérce [ˈbeɾtsɪj], from Proto-Kett wkerća or something i guess)

[Izambri]

I was hoping berce would have [ts]

Now that you mention it, Hellesan has ['bəɾtsə] in the Garamançan dialect.

I think I'll use grese for "potato". The word has a potatoish quality, dunno why.

(also, the Insular Kett word for 'onion' is now bérce [ˈbeɾtsɪj], from Proto-Kett wkerća or something i guess)

It's nice to be inspirational XD

[clawgrip]

Onion in Proto-Frinthan is ŕatū. I haven't decided one for Himmaswa yet, but maybe I'll make it greh based on this root. Potato in Himmaswa is dur.

[Izambri]

Onion in Proto-Frinthan is ŕatū. I haven't decided one for Himmaswa yet, but maybe I'll make it greh based on this root. Potato in Himmaswa is dur.

I like dur for "potato" because dur is Catalan for "hard, tough, stiff". I think I'll use it as a root for "sweet potato" in Hellesan.

[clawgrip]

For the record, in Himmaswa it's pronounced [dɚː]. The Romanization I use for Himmaswa is a little strange and very much based on English spelling rules.

Starch is durtoa [dɚːtʰɔo̯] (potato powder).

[Izambri]

For the record, in Himmaswa it's pronounced [dɚː]. The Romanization I use for Himmaswa is a little strange and very much based on English spelling rules.

Funny, because I've just finished the entry for sweet potato, and I needed to change the dur– root to dar–. XD

[clawgrip]

I guess that means they are false cognates instead of loanwords.

[L'alphabētarium]

...a Lexicon Building Counselling Service.

Great idea! Could be very useful for these kinds of dilemmas.

---------
Which one of the following sounds best to mean "arrow" to you?

síl [siːl]
(or) sílta ['siːl.tə]
ní [niː]
línt(e) ['liːn.t(ə)]

As you can see, a long is necessary. It somehow gives the word a sense of spíd and swiftness (for me).

[clawgrip]

I choose ni.

[MIGUELbM]

...a Lexicon Building Counselling Service.

Great idea! Could be very useful for these kinds of dilemmas.

---------
Which one of the following sounds best to mean "arrow" to you?

síl [siːl]
(or) sílta ['siːl.tə]
ní [niː]
línt(e) ['liːn.t(ə)]

As you can see, a long is necessary. It somehow gives the word a sense of spíd and swiftness (for me).

I'd go for sílta, the S gives me more of a sense of movement than the L or N and the second syllable sounds like an impact. SÍL (moving very fast), TA (striking the target)

[Izambri]

Which one of the following sounds best to mean "arrow" to you?

síl [siːl]
(or) sílta ['siːl.tə]
ní [niː]
línt(e) ['liːn.t(ə)]

As you can see, a long is necessary. It somehow gives the word a sense of spíd and swiftness (for me).

Síl and sílta are the best IMO. The síl– root has something that implies concepts like "fast; passing; smooth friction" thanks to [s].

[L'alphabētarium]

Which one of the following sounds best to mean "arrow" to you?

síl [siːl]
(or) sílta ['siːl.tə]
ní [niː]
línt(e) ['liːn.t(ə)]

As you can see, a long is necessary. It somehow gives the word a sense of spíd and swiftness (for me).

Síl and sílta are the best IMO. The síl– root has something that implies concepts like "fast; passing; smooth friction" thanks to [s].

I'd go for sílta, the S gives me more of a sense of movement than the L or N and the second syllable sounds like an impact. SÍL (moving very fast), TA (striking the target)

Thanks for the opinions!
I'll probably go with sílta and use síl as a root to mean "throw" or "shoot" or something like that.
I'm gonna find better use for ní and línt(e).

[Izambri]

I guess that means they are false cognates instead of loanwords.

Not loanwords, no. In any case the word is darumfet (or drumfet, through syncope) "sweet potato", originally "little yam", since it's a diminutive of darumf "yam", an old Hellesan adaptation of a certain foreign word.

[L'alphabētarium]

BTW, Izambri, how do you pronounce Hellesan? The Castillian way, the Catalan way or elseway*?

(*this word should totally exist!)

[Izambri]

BTW, Izambri, how do you pronounce Hellesan? The Castillian way, the Catalan way or elseway*?

(*this word should totally exist!)

The native words are hel·leu [ə'ɫ:ɛw], [ə'ɫ:əw] or [e'ɫ:ɛw] and hel·lesà [əɫ:ə'za] or [eɫ:e'za], and they're written and pronounced the same way in Catalan.

The English word is Hellesan, and I'd say is pronounced [ˈæɫ:əzæn] or [ˈæɫ:əzən].

The Spanish word would be **helesano, but since català is catalán and not catalano, we could consider helesán [ele'san].

What about Greek? ελλεσανική γλώσσα perhaps?

[spats]

The native words are hel·leu [ə'ɫ:ɛw], [ə'ɫ:əw] or [e'ɫ:ɛw] and hel·lesà [əɫ:ə'za] or [eɫ:e'za], and they're written and pronounced the same way in Catalan.

The English word is Hellesan, and I'd say is pronounced [ˈæɫ:əzæn] or [ˈæɫ:əzən].

Judging from the original pronunciation and the spelling, I'd expect [ɛ.lə'zɑn] or [hɛ.lə'zɑn] in GA; maybe [hə'ɫi.zən] or [hə'ɫi.zi.ən] if the speaker isn't familiar with the word.

English lacks geminate consonants; the double L would be an indication that the first <e> was short. Also, a single <e> is almost invariably pronounced as one of [ɛ i ə], except in open syllables in obvious loanwords, where it can sometimes be [e] instead. Where you get [l] vs [ɫ] is allophonic; I'm sort of doing my transcription by "feel" but YMMV.

[Thry]

Consider cognate Heleo too for Spanish.

[Click]

What is the better word for rain in Isenian?

mbu [ᵐbù] or cú [kʷú]

[Thry]

The former sounds more fluid to me.

[MIGUELbM]

BTW, Izambri, how do you pronounce Hellesan? The Castillian way, the Catalan way or elseway*?

(*this word should totally exist!)

The native words are hel·leu [ə'ɫ:ɛw], [ə'ɫ:əw] or [e'ɫ:ɛw] and hel·lesà [əɫ:ə'za] or [eɫ:e'za], and they're written and pronounced the same way in Catalan.

The English word is Hellesan, and I'd say is pronounced [ˈæɫ:əzæn] or [ˈæɫ:əzən].

The Spanish word would be **helesano, but since català is catalán and not catalano, we could consider helesán [ele'san].

What about Greek? ελλεσανική γλώσσα perhaps?

A small correction there: the word "helesán" shouldn't use the ´ thingy (I don't know the name in english), words that end in "n", "s" or a vowel and are stressed in the last syllable do not need it.

[Thry]

xD Miguel, Izambri's a native too.
Those are actually the ones that take an accent: catalán, carnés, paró, ... (if they don't have an accent, they are stressed in the second-to-last syllable: perro, axis, cantan).

The name is acute accent btw.