Word lists

Halian · Post by **Halian** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:03 am

What, if any, word lists do you guys use as a base for your conlangs' vocabularies?

Corundum · Post by **Corundum** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 7:52 am

Natural Semantic Metalanguage (edit 2013: new url)
important for the expressive power of a language.

The Toki Pona lexicon
useful for checking for important holes in your lexicon.

Classifiers in Latejami (edit 2012: new url)
also useful for checking for important holes.

Universal Language Dictionary
can be useful if you want more words.

But make sure to not unintentionally copy the semantic space of the concepts listed there. Understanding the difference between polysemy and hypernymy and holonymy is instrumental for understanding semantic space (e.g. "mammal" isn't polysemous, it's hypernymous to "dog" and a lot of other English concepts, and the same is true for many concepts that are absent from English that may seem polysemous from the point of view of an English dictionary).

Torco · Post by **Torco** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:10 am

awesome resources... thanks

Soap · Post by **Soap** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 8:14 am

I've been recycling the same word lists for years, and lately when I have time I fill in the holes with a 20,000 word Japanese-English paperback dictionary. This does not mean I intend to have 20000 words, just that I'll choose what looks good that I don't already have. That said, Poswa is pushing 7000 lately, and it's a meaningful 7000, not like my older conlangs such as Palli which has 6500 words but 36 of them were for "moon" with no distinctions of meaning.

The Lojban gismu list is good too.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Index:Lojban/gismu

There was a pagethat had the same list with definitions right after each word, so that you wouldnt need to click links to find out what they mean, but it was on AOL and it seems to have disappeared with no replacement. Though I did find a raw-text version at http://www.lojban.org/publications/wordlists/gismu.txt

masako · Post by **masako** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:00 pm

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/lfnbasicwordlist.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ky%C5%8Diku_kanji

http://www.zompist.com/thematic.htm

and

this

others too

Lukas Kelly · Post by **Lukas Kelly** » Wed Dec 22, 2010 5:36 pm

Versions of the Swadesh list.

Imralu · Post by **Imralu** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:00 am

This is a great resource. Can it be archived or made permanent?

Mecislau · Post by **Mecislau** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 5:43 am

I use the SIL Semantic Domain Template list. Thousands of terms organized semantically, plus it was actually developed to aid people documenting languages, so it actually tries to help you avoid simply copying English semantics. By far the best guide, IMO.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find it online anymore, so I'll re-upload my copy (1.8 MB .doc, 471 pages): http://cl.ly/3M0W3X2e2y0K3I1s0c2j

Soap · Post by **Soap** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 12:48 pm

The lexicon building thread (http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php? ... art=999999) s\is at 1450 words and still going. Good for fluffing up vocabularies one might think are nearing completion.

Bristel · Post by **Bristel** » Thu Jun 30, 2011 7:55 pm

Trying to copypasta a Swadesh list into Numbers, but I can't find a nicely formatted one that auto-cells into the right places.

Gray Richardson · Post by **Gray Richardson** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:00 am

Mecislau, the SIL semantic domains list you posted is really very wonderful. I am very impressed with how comprehensive it seems. Thanks for posting that!

Gray Richardson · Post by **Gray Richardson** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:13 am

This is kind of cool; I just found this link to a chart of semantic domains used by the Semantic Dictionary of Biblical Hebrew. It's pretty interesting and could be helpful for creating word lists:

http://www.sdbh.org/vocabula/domaintable.php?1,en

Risla · Post by **Risla** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:33 am

I went ahead and converted the SIL word list Mecislau uploaded to PDF and put it on Google Docs, for greater accessbility. Link is here; tell me if there's any trouble with it.

(I found it kind of funny that La Niña is listed under "drought," as in my part of the planet La Niña is associated with assloads of rain...)

Torco · Post by **Torco** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 4:38 am

*buys mecislau a beer and gives Risla a pretty flower*

Really, that thing is mighty useful... it actually makes word creation fun for me, which is something alright.

vec · Post by **vec** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 10:33 am

W00t. How have we not had a thread on this stuff befo'?

vec · Post by **vec** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:21 am

While I appreciate the SIL list, I can't help but be offended by them listing homosexuality under "sexual immorality" in the same domain as "pervert". Yet one more reason to dislike SIL as a whole. In the end, their aim is not to study languages, it's to spread Christianity. When the document starts talking about religion, their agenda starts shining through. So it does when talking about nudity, sex and so forth.

MisterBernie · Post by **MisterBernie** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 11:30 am

...seriously?
*looks up*
Yep, smack-dab between rape and pedophilia.

Also holy fuck that whole section shows some serious ~~idiocy~~ cultural blinders.

Mecislau · Post by **Mecislau** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 12:47 pm

vecfaranti wrote:While I appreciate the SIL list, I can't help but be offended by them listing homosexuality under "sexual immorality" in the same domain as "pervert". Yet one more reason to dislike SIL as a whole. In the end, their aim is not to study languages, it's to spread Christianity. When the document starts talking about religion, their agenda starts shining through. So it does when talking about nudity, sex and so forth.

Well, ultimately it's both—to study language and to spread Christianity. They just happen to provide some of the best language documentation tools that are freely available on the internet...

vec · Post by **vec** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:17 pm

Mecislau wrote:
vecfaranti wrote:While I appreciate the SIL list, I can't help but be offended by them listing homosexuality under "sexual immorality" in the same domain as "pervert". Yet one more reason to dislike SIL as a whole. In the end, their aim is not to study languages, it's to spread Christianity. When the document starts talking about religion, their agenda starts shining through. So it does when talking about nudity, sex and so forth.
Well, ultimately it's both—to study language and to spread Christianity. They just happen to provide some of the best language documentation tools that are freely available on the internet...

I know. And hypocritically, I begrudgingly take what they give.

TomHChappell · Post by **TomHChappell** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 1:26 pm

CJMiller wrote:What, if any, word lists do you guys use as a base for your conlangs' vocabularies?

These.

Use the latest files first.
Or if they're too big, use the smallest files first.

Lyhoko Leaci · Post by **Lyhoko Leaci** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:10 pm

MisterBernie wrote:...seriously?
*looks up*
Yep, smack-dab between rape and pedophilia.

Also holy fuck that whole section shows some serious ~~idiocy~~ cultural blinders.

It's listed under "Sexual Relations" on mine now.

I'm not sure I like their list for another reason though: It's enormous, going into way too much detail, it would take way too long to go though it. (Or even find something in it, why is there no table of contents?)

Risla · Post by **Risla** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:17 pm

Hm. I'm going to upload an editable version of it on google docs and grant people access to it (based on requests); we can have a collaborative effort to make it more neutral and culturally sensitive. I'm finding quite a bit of sexism strewn throughout it too.

vec · Post by **vec** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:27 pm

I wrote:I know. And hypocritically, I begrudgingly take what they give.

Wouldn't this make a great TC?

Lyhoko Leaci · Post by **Lyhoko Leaci** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:36 pm

Risla wrote:Hm. I'm going to upload an editable version of it on google docs and grant people access to it (based on requests); we can have a collaborative effort to make it more neutral and culturally sensitive. I'm finding quite a bit of sexism strewn throughout it too.

For that matter, since when are sweaters woman's clothes?

Some other things could be fixed, like a table of contents could be added, duplicates could be cleaned up (planets and stars are covered twice, once at the beginning, and then again at the end, the end one seems to be for specific names rather than general ones, but it just ends up repeating stuff for the most part)

Mecislau · Post by **Mecislau** » Sat Jul 02, 2011 2:47 pm

Lyhoko Leaci wrote:I'm not sure I like their list for another reason though: It's enormous, going into way too much detail, it would take way too long to go though it. (Or even find something in it, why is there no table of contents?)

Oh, sorry, I just didn't upload it. It's a separate file.

http://cl.ly/2B3l33272U0D0u1K2v2M

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