The Lexicon Building Counselling Service

[L'alphabētarium]

You can clarify this topic with ['ɛ.an]; I have no part in this.

Don't open my e's, you perv.

But that's how me pronounceses it.
It certainly beats [i:n] or ['eɪ.ən]; you know I'm true - don't deny it ya hippie!

[Thry]

Wasn't Greek /a e i o u/ like Spanish?

[Izambri]

I tried to work that apoikia thing in Silladen and got this:

Edhuif /e.ðui̯v/
or Edhuim /e.ðui̯m/

and directly home-people:

Dovent /do.vent/ (older Doveghent)

but that would mean more like "compatriot"

I like them, jes. Do they have gender? Is edhuif masculine, femenine, neuter...?

On the other hand... M.I.S.S.I.O.N. A.C.C.O.M.P.L.I.S.H.E.D.
: )

[Thry]

Oh the word is born?? Is it a boy or a girl!!

Silladen words don't have gender.

Edhuif comes from prefix ed- "off" [from Sindarin], lexeme dov- "home" (< domus) and infix -i- for nominalization, akin to Greek/Latin -ía. So the word word be feminine; a similar word in Catalan would be exdomia.

[Izambri]

Oh the word is born?? Is it a boy or a girl!!

A girl! Aisenete "colony".

[Thry]

Looks like a diminutive, how cute xD

[Izambri]

Looks like a diminutive, how cute xD

Jèeeeeeeessssss... –et –ete is, in fact, an Hellesan diminutive, but there are words out there, like aisenete, that aren't real dimins.

Sometimes the –et ending doesn't match at all with the word's meaning, as in pertavet "enlargement" (Cat. "eixample; eixamplament", Cast. "ensanche"). XD

[Qwynegold]

@Qwynegold: cu sounds sharp as hell; maybe mbu doesn't scream "rain" but it's the superior option of the two.

Rain can be sharp. If it's raining really hard.

Let's try this:

I'm thinking of giving Pazmat words for "boy" and "girl" that aren't connected to the words for "man" and "woman".

Now, for "girl", should I go with Crsi [kɻ̩si], or stick with Gjmcba [dʑm̩kbɑ] (literally just the word for "woman" with a diminutive)

As for "boy", should I go for Wurf [wuɻf] or stick with Qixba [qiʀbɑ] (which is "man" with a diminutive)?

I think the non-derived words are better. They're much easier and simpler.

[Lyra]

For girl and boy I have ['maɲa] and ['bjaja] respectively, both derived from mother and father roots in the proto lang.
For man and woman I am a bit in doubt, though:
Woman: ['kijvma] or ['kijvza]
Man: ['ganma] or ['gaɲa]

Which is better?

~Lyra

[Thry]

kijvma and ganma

[L'alphabētarium]

Wasn't Greek /a e i o u/ like Spanish?

Technically it's /a e̞ i o̞ u/ but I (personally) can hear almost no difference between [e̞] and [ɛ], which makes me guess Greek [e̞] is closer to [ɛ] since I can quite easily hear the difference between [e̞] and [e].
Generally though, yes, Greek and Spanish have the same vowels which make me feel a bit awe every time I hear some Spaniard speaking Greek (words or phrases), cause they pretty much nail the accent! Same goes for most Greeks speaking Spanish of course...

[Thry]

Yes tell me about it; I hear that from my Queen. And it's not only the vowels; the lenition of -b- -d- and -g- also coincides (even word-initially for some dialects like Cuban, not for ours though).

I guess the same thing goes for Spanish <e>'s, I may represent it as /e/ but IDK if it's [E] or [e].

[L'alphabētarium]

Yes tell me about it; I hear that from my Queen. And it's not only the vowels; the lenition of -b- -d- and -g- also coincides (even word-initially for some dialects like Cuban, not for ours though).

I guess the same thing goes for Spanish <e>'s, I may represent it as /e/ but IDK if it's [E] or [e].

Well this lady has spent less time in Greece than our previous government, so I'm not that sure about her accent. It must be mostly German and/or Danish influenced.

That /b d g/ lenition is true (and quite odd to be sincere), but at least we don't have that hateful [β] abomination, bastard child of and [v]!
We also lack [ɾ + r], though we have [ɾ ~ r] (usually [ɾ])

[Thry]

Well not always, I was hearing a song and it said "σε ρωτώ" and sounded exactly like I would say se rotó in Spanish [r] (which would mean: it rotated itself).

[Izambri]

For man and woman I am a bit in doubt, though:
Woman: ['kijvma] or ['kijvza]
Man: ['ganma] or ['gaɲa]

IMO, ['kijvma] and ['ganma].

[L'alphabētarium]

Well not always, I was hearing a song and it said "σε ρωτώ" and sounded exactly like I would say se rotó in Spanish [r] (which would mean: it rotated itself).

It's quite common for singers to overpronounce [ɾ] to make it [r] just for emphasis.
Don't trust songs, they lie! Hear the language spoken, not songen!
"R", especially between vowels, is almost never trilled.
"Σε ρωτώ", btw, means "I ask you", but I'm sure you already know that...

[Izambri]

For man and woman I am a bit in doubt, though:
Woman: ['kijvma] or ['kijvza]
Man: ['ganma] or ['gaɲa]

IMO, ['kijvma] and ['ganma].

By the way... no orthography for them, Lyra?

[Thry]

"Σε ρωτώ", btw, means "I ask you", but I'm sure you already know that...

I didn't ! I don't speak Greek, sadly.

Another impression I just got from Greek: weird stress patterns... loads of oxytone words and -ía words (which actually we got from you and mangled afterwards, anyways ).

[Izambri]

By «Lexicon Building» I mean words in a wide sense, so this is a good place to ask it:

I'm working the toponymy of one of my conworld's cities. I have all 21 districts' names, and almost all neighbourhoods' names (with their respective etymologies and stuff)... but a few remain unnamed and I don't find interesting or suggestive ideas.

So I'm asking for ideas, imaginary or real (from your town or city), to name them. It doesn't matter if they are weird; in fact, it would be desirable, to spice up the matter.

[Lyra]

For man and woman I am a bit in doubt, though:
Woman: ['kijvma] or ['kijvza]
Man: ['ganma] or ['gaɲa]

IMO, ['kijvma] and ['ganma].

By the way... no orthography for them, Lyra?

yes i do, actually, it's kind of messy but i keep it that way for the language scripts to come.

['kijvma] kiyvma*
['kijvza] kiyvza
['ganma] ganma*
['gaɲa] ganya

Now I'm having trouble with the word for 'chalk'

So far I have:

arkya ['arkʲa]
šurkya ['ʃurkʲa]
šöšya ['ʃɔʃʲa]
fëjya ['fɛʒʲa]

Though I do have a huge bias for the first one...

*and, aye, they do sound better.

~Lyra

[din]

By «Lexicon Building» I mean words in a wide sense, so this is a good place to ask it:

I'm working the toponymy of one of my conworld's cities. I have all 21 districts' names, and almost all neighbourhoods' names (with their respective etymologies and stuff)... but a few remain unnamed and I don't find interesting or suggestive ideas.

So I'm asking for ideas, imaginary or real (from your town or city), to name them. It doesn't matter if they are weird; in fact, it would be desirable, to spice up the matter.

I love (town) names with interesting histories, but I'd have to know a little/lot more about your city to be able to suggest anything.

Maybe throw darts at a few words in your dictionary and try to see if it makes any sense if you use that word in a name?

[Thry]

chalk = arkya

[Izambri]

Now I'm having trouble with the word for 'chalk'

So far I have:

arkya ['arkʲa]
šurkya ['ʃurkʲa]
šöšya ['ʃɔʃʲa]
fëjya ['fɛʒʲa]

Though I do have a huge bias for the first one...

All four sound enough chalky to me. Fëjya, with that [ʒ], reminds me of Catalan ges / gessa "chalk".

Hellesan also needs a word for "chalk". Working on it...

[Izambri]

Maybe throw darts at a few words in your dictionary and try to see if it makes any sense if you use that word in a name?

I did it a few times, and I must say it's hard to make placenames this way! XD

My problem with Labirença's neighborhoods is that the few that remain unnamed have little urban history, since they were or still are rural or forest areas with some low-density housing.
But instead of taking the "Birch Hill" or "River Oaks" way, I prefer to do something more elaborated, like "Lost Fishers", which is a real neighborhood and has its reasons to be named like that.

[Thry]

Wolf's Den, Corner of Love, Windy Hollow, ... that sort?